Four UN observers have toured the town of al-Qusair in Homs province earlier this morning.
Hadi al-Abdallah, a local activist who accompanied the monitors, told Al Jazeera that the observers met with seven defecting officers and several other army deserters at their military base before they toured the town.
"At the meeting with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the officers explained that the FSA has developed into a military institution that is capable of running the country after the collapse of Assad's regime," Abdallah said.
"After the meeting, we showed them the checkpoints set up by regime forces and the snipers and barricades stationed on the rooftops of the National Hospital and the municipality building."
The tour lasted two hours, Abdallah said.
"We supplied the monitors with a map detailing where checkpoints and tanks are located. They promised to come back to Qussair on Monday. They said they will decided whether or not they would deploy two monitors in the town after their full assessment."
Activists sent us the following video and pictures that purport to show residents with the monitors in Qussair.