The Arab League has suspended its observer mission in Syria because of an upsurge in violence that has killed more than 200 people in the past three days.
At least 50 people were killed on Saturday alone.
The decision came after consultations between the organisation's chief, Nabil al-Arabi, and the head of the mission, Mohamed al-Dabi.
The suspension was because of "the serious deterioration of the situation in Syria which contradicts the conditions of the Arab plan" resulting in "killing innocent citizens," the Arab League said.
The monitors will stay in Damascus until al-Arabi returns from the United Nations.
Damascus expressed "surprise and regret" at the Arab League decision, state television reported.
A source close to the mission told DPA that 100 observers in Syria have warned al-Dabi they will stop their work because of the rising bloodshed in recent days. The source said most of the observers refused to leave their hotels in Damascus on Friday and Saturday and were awaiting a decision by their countries to leave.
Al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim are set to seek UN support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis.
The plan calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with President Bashar al-Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
Syria has rejected the proposal, saying it violates its sovereignty.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar told families of security forces killed in the ongoing violence that the Syrian authorities are determined to "cleanse" the country of outlaws and restore order.
"The security forces are determined to continue the struggle to cleanse the Syrian soil from the filthy and rogue outlaws to restore security and stability that Syria once enjoyed," al-Shaar was quoted by the state-run SANA news agency as saying.
At least 50 people were killed in clashes on Saturday between government forces and army defectors, with most of the deaths in the Damascus suburbs and the central province of Homs.
Eleven people died in Reef Damascus suburbs when government troops stormed the area.
SANA reported that "terrorists" ambushed a bus carrying army officers near the Damascus suburb of Douma, killing seven of them.
Although Damascus has been relatively quiet since the uprising began, its suburbs have witnessed intense anti-regime protests and army defectors have become more visible and active in the past few months.
In the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour, an oil pipeline received a direct hit and caught fire as government troops shelled the town, activists said.
State-run media blamed "terrorists" for the attack, saying the fire was extinguished four hours later.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported intense fighting between troops and defectors in the town of Rastan near the restive central city of Homs, in which eight people died.
At least 100 people were killed on Friday in government forces crackdown on activists. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,400 people have died in Syria since the uprising began.
The United Nations Children's Fund said Friday that at least 384 children have been killed and about the same number have been jailed. It said the figures were based on reports by human rights organisations which it judged to be credible.
The opposition Syrian National Council said it would present evidence of "massacres" by government forces to the UN Security Council. The council's spokesman, Samir al-Nashar, told reporters in Istanbul a delegation would travel to New York on Sunday.
The UN Security Council began closed-door negotiations on Friday on a new Arab-European draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis, but Russia's envoy said he could not back the "current language" as it stands.
In the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, more than 200 Syrian Kurds living in exile attended a conference, where Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani pledged support for the Kurdish minority in Syria.
"We want to know their future. The situation in Syria is of strategic importance to us, given that Syria and Iraq share a long border," Barzani was quoted as saying by the Iraqi news agency AlBughdadia.
Kurds, Syria's largest ethnic minority, make up about nine per cent of the population and have long complained of discrimination.
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