Syrian opposition calls for Nato protection President Bashar al-Assad's forces have recaptured the shattered Baba Amr district in the central Homs, Reuters reports citing activists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government forces regained the district, left largely uninhabitable by fierce campaigns of rocket fire and air raids, after more than two weeks of fighting off a surprise push by rebels to retake their former bastion. Qatar will press ahead with plans to give the anti-Assad opposition the seat on the Arab League council held by the Syrian government despite the crisis over the resignation of Moaz al-Khatib, leader of the Syrian national coalition. He is known to have been unhappy with Qatari support for the choice of Ghassan Hitto, a Texan-based IT executive, as the prime minister of a transitional Syrian government. Moaz al-Khatib said he would represent the Syrian people at the Arab League summit in Doha after resigning as leader of the Syrian National Coalition. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images The United Nations is to move about half of its 100 international staff out of Syria after mortar bombs fell near their hotel in Damascus, damaging the building and a UN vehicle. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said another 800 local U.N. staff had been asked to work from home until further notice. "The United Nations security management team has assessed the situation and decided to temporarily reduce the presence of international staff in Damascus due to security conditions," Nesirky said. Shia Muslims who fled Syria for Lebanon claim they were subjected to an 'ethnic cleansing' campaign by rebels intent on creating a Sunni-run Islamic state, the LA Times reports. Imagine, these people used to be our neighbours. Now they want to kidnap and kill us," said Ali Jamal, referring to Sunni rebels. Before this war, we all got along, no one cared about sects. Now everything has changed completely. The Umma Brigade, one of the best equipped and trained rebel groups fighting in northern Syria has a troubling vision for a post-Assad Syria, according to analyst Asher Berman. Writing on his Syria Survey blog he analyses the group's political manifesto: While this document has some relatively liberal clauses regarding religious and ethnic pluralism, it also includes deeply troubling phrases for those in favor of a secular state. For example, the first clause cites Sharia as "the reference for all state affairs," and clause 14, gives the state a role in the "prevention of vice and promotion of virtue," a phrase often used to justify the establishment of religious police. Egypt's top prosecutor issued arrest warrants on Monday for five activists at the forefront of the country's revolution on suspicion of inciting violence against members of the president's Muslim Brotherhood. The warrants came a day after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi issued a warning to his opponents, saying he may be close to taking unspecified measures to protect the nation. Oman has granted asylum to some members of Muammar Gaddafi's family, two of whom are wanted by Interpol, but Libya said it was too early to talk about any possible extradition requests.