( CNN ) -- The Arab League was negotiating an extension of its fact-finding mission in Syria Thursday , with its members due to report over the weekend on what they have witnessed of a months-long government crackdown on protests . Ambassador Adnan Al Khudeir , the Cairo-based head of the monitoring operation , said the league and the Syrian government were negotiating an extension to their mandate , which was scheduled to end Thursday . A senior Arab League official , who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter , said the monitors would remain in Syria while the issue was discussed -- and that all signs pointed to an extension being agreed to by both sides . A handful of Arab League members will meet Saturday , led by Qatar , before the full 22-state body meets Sunday in Cairo to discuss the monitors ' final findings , the official said . The United Nations is not sending monitors itself but is providing technical training to the Arab League observers , he added . The uprising , driven by calls for President Bashar al-Assad 's resignation , reforms and democratic elections , is in its 10th month . It has prompted a bloody government crackdown that has claimed at least 5,000 lives since it began in March , according to the United Nations . Opposition groups put the death toll at more than 6,000 . The Arab League has called on Damascus to stop violence against civilians , free political detainees , remove tanks and weapons from cities and allow outsiders , including the international news media , to travel freely around Syria . The purpose of its month-long fact-finding mission was to see if the government was adhering to an agreement to end the violence . But opposition activists and human rights monitors say the Syrian government has not stopped its aggressive actions against protesters since the mission began December 26 , and have questioned the mission 's effectiveness . Meanwhile , opposition activist groups continue to report outbreaks of violence elsewhere around the country . The Local Coordination Committees of Syria , an opposition umbrella group , said 25 people were killed Thursday , including seven in Idlib , six in Hama and four in Homs . Four people were killed in Deir Ezzor and three in the Damascus suburbs , with one more death in Qameshly , the group said . Gunfire was reported in many neighborhoods in Hama , with mourners at a mosque also coming under fire . Some roads out of the city have been closed off , while snipers are positioned on rooftops , the LCC said . In Douma , a suburb of Damascus , the naked body of a young man bearing signs of torture was found in the street , the group said , adding that government security forces took the body and arrested several people . The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said one civilian was killed and seven wounded in Homs Thursday by mortar rounds fired at the neighborhood of Baba Howd . Another four activists , who were in hiding , were shot dead in the Idlib region when security forces ambushed them in a mountain village , the Observatory said . The LCC said 21 people were killed by government troops Wednesday . The Arab League monitors have been greeted ecstatically in some Syrian cities , where residents have recounted tales of government brutality . In the town of Kisweh , which monitors visited Tuesday , one demonstrator spray-painted the letters `` S.O.S . '' on a wall . On Sunday , crowds in Zabadani carried the monitors on their shoulders and urged them to stay to prevent reprisals . Syrian activists said Wednesday that opposition forces had wrested control of Zabadani from government troops . They maintained control of the city Thursday , activists said . `` There was massive protests in Zabadani , so the Syrian Army tried to disperse them . But our troops were very organized and aggressive with a counter attack that left them fleeing and they withdrew completely out of the city , '' said Lt. Col. Mohamed Hamdo of the Free Syrian Army ( FSA ) , a group made up of former government soldiers . `` Our forces raised the flag of independence in Zabadani . '' Hamdo said , though , that the opposition fighters `` expect another confrontation '' as the government forces regroup outside the town . Although a number of journalists have been allowed into the country in recent days to travel with Arab League monitors on their fact-finding mission , CNN can not verify many accounts of what is happening in Syria because the government restricts the activities of journalists . The European Union announced Wednesday it was planning new sanctions against companies and individuals in Syria , as it seeks to put pressure on the al-Assad regime . While Western powers have imposed sanctions on Syria during the 10-month crackdown , opposition by Russia and China has kept the U.N. Security Council from following suit . The al-Assad government says it is fighting armed terrorist groups , which it blames for the violence . CNN 's Nic Robertson , Salma Abdelaziz , Lonzo Cook and Samira Said contributed to this report .
NEW : Opposition activists report one deaths across Syria the weekend . The monitors will stay in Qatar while an extension to their mission is discussed , an official says . al-Assad member states will meet over Thursday to discuss the mission 's findings . Critics say the monitors ' month -long fact-finding mission has done little to protect civilians .