The mission, which on Wednesday returned to Homs, the scene of bitter fighting between regime troops and the opposition, was initially barred from the flashpoint district of Baba Amr because it was accompanied by a regime lieutenant colonel.
It was only allowed in after the officer agreed to step aside, but the delegates were still criticised by opposition for allowing themselves to be hoodwinked by a regime that was hiding the extent of its military build-up.
Activists had also attacked the mission for not taking the protesters’ claims of atrocities seriously enough on Tuesday. After the first day, Lt Gen Mohammed Ahmed Mustapha al-Dabi, its head, said the situation seemed “reassuring”.
State television said 755 prisoners who had been involved in anti-regime protests but who “who did not have Syrian blood on their hands” had been released. The release of political prisoners was one of the terms of the peace deal agreed between Syria and the Arab League whose implementation the monitoring mission is supposed to be overseeing.
However, activists and human rights groups say tens of thousands of people – estimates range from 15,000 to over 30,000 – remain behind bars having been detained since the start of the uprising.
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