The kickoff of the hard-started Arab League (AL) observers' mission once gave Syrians the hope of ending their country's months-long crisis soon and within the regional framework, but the citizens now find themselves in an even more perilous situation.

Over the past weeks, the AL observers who began their field work in the last days of 2011, have witnessed a string of terrorist attacks which threatened the lives of all Syrian people.

RISING VIOLENCE

Three military members were gunned down on Friday by an armed terrorist gang who attacked a Morse code service center in al-Mrah area in Damascus Countryside governorate.

A day earlier, eight law-enforcement members were killed by heavy gunshots from armed groups in the northern Idlib province, less than twenty-four hours after nine people, including a French journalist, were killed and dozens wounded after unidentified gunmen fired mortars against a crowd in the central city of Homs.

On Jan. 6, a terrorist explosion in al-Midan neighborhood in the capital of Damascus claimed 25 lives and left over 60 wounded. The attack, occurred during the high traffic hours at noon, was considered aiming at the police forces, as two buses, carrying scores of policemen who were changing shifts, were right on target.

On Dec. 23, 2011, two suicide bombings hitting two intelligence centers in Damascus left 44 dead and 166 others injured, a day after the first batch of AL observers arrived in Syria to assess whether the country is abiding by an Arab peace plan.

AL MISSION IN DOUBT

Analysts say that, the attacks, carried out after the arrival of the AL observers, have brought about difficulties to the mission, which was expected to last a month.

There is even suspicion that the attacks were schemed in good timing by terrorist forces during the observers' stay, so that they could be scared away, while the chance for more powerful international intervention to overturn the current rulers could become possible.

In the Egyptian capital of Cairo, AL chief Nabil al-Arabi looks already harboring mistrust in the Syrian government, despite the bloc's decision to go on with the mission. He said on Tuesday that the monitoring teams were attacked by both pro-government people and the opposition in different cities, and noted there was a hostile campaign against the mission.

Moreover, split has even emerged among the on-field taskforce. On Thursday, head of the mission Moustafa al-Dabi dismissed as " untrue" the remarks by Anwar Malek, a former Algerian member of the team, who decried the field mission as a "farce."

Malek recently told the Doha-based al-Jazeera TV that he resigned as he saw "a humanitarian disaster" in Homs, saying that the Syrian government "is not just committing one war crime, but a series of crimes against its people." However, according to al- Dabi, Malek, who cited his illness, had not even joined his team through the field mission in the central hot spot town.

But despite al-Dabi's renewed call for objectivity and accuracy in media coverage, the truth is that violence in Syria remained unabated and that the government may soon find itself in an increasingly awkward position, when it accuses terrorist gangs of plotting the deadly assaults, it has no easy evidences, which in turn leaves the opposition powers the chance for a revenging bite.

MOUNTING INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

In a televised national address on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reaffirmed his determination to fight terrorism and foreign-backed armed gangs "with an iron fist."

He said that "Syria will not close doors to any Arab solution respecting the Syrian sovereignty and the independence of the country's decision."

However, Burhan Ghalioun, head of the Turkey-based Syrian National Council (SNC), an opposition umbrella, regarded the speech as "a call for continued violence against the Syrian people, " and called on the Arab states and the international community to practice more pressure to take the Syrian file to the UN Security Council.

On the same day, Susan Rice, U.S. permanent representative to the UN, also insisted that the al-Assad administration was stepping up violence against civilians, despite the presence of AL monitors.

Meanwhile, after the death of French journalist Gilles Jacquier from the France 2 TV on Wednesday, Paris has also resorted to strong words in requesting a better role of the Syrian government in curbing similar civilian-targeted attacks.

On Friday, NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero rejected Russian allegations that the alliance was planning Libya-style military action in Syria. But she said Turkey, a NATO member, may play a key role and is working with the United States on a no-fly zone to protect the Syrian rebels.

It is widely believed that, having suffered from the 10-month- old crisis, the Syrian people are in dire need of an exit. Besides the Syrian government's efforts to draw new constitutions and carry out promised reforms, the AL should also play a constructive role and avoid nonfeasance.

But if it turns out that the AL mission is nothing but a dead end, it is inevitable that some Western powers may involve themselves into the unrest, when no one can be sure about whether the future of Syria is decided truly by its own people, analysts said.