Syrian opposition group, rebel army join forces A Syrian opposition group says it is now coordinating with leaders of the rebel army The group, the Syrian National Council, says it plans to open a liaison office Thousands of protesters are set to take to the streets to support the rebel force (CNN) -- A Syrian opposition group demanding the end of President Bashar al-Assad's reign announced Friday that it has begun coordinating with the rebel Free Syria Army, while thousands of anti-government protesters were set to take to the streets to support the breakaway army. The announcement by the Syrian National Council and the planned protests across the country in support of the rebel army appears to signal a shift in the anti-government movement, an effort to solidify coordination between the groups who say have been the target of a brutal crackdown by al-Assad's forces. The move coincides with reports of increased violence against demonstrators by security forces despite the ongoing efforts of an Arab League fact-finding mission to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end the crackdown. Al-Assad, who has characterized the anti-government protesters as "armed gangs," has insisted his security forces are battling terrorists intent on targeting civilians and fomenting unrest. The United States, the European Union and a number of Arab countries have called on al-Assad to end the violence and step down. The Syrian National Council -- an umbrella organization for a number of opposition groups -- plans to establish a liaison office with the Free Syria Army "to maintain direct communications around the clock," the group said in a statement. The council also is opening a direct channel of communication with the rebel force to ensure effective communication between the two groups "in order to achieve optimal service to the Syrian revolution," the statement said. Additionally, the Syrian National Council and the Free Syria Army -- composed of military defectors -- agreed to reorganize the rebel military units and create a plan to accommodate additional soldiers, according to the statement. The plan was hammered out Thursday during a meeting between members of the council and the rebel army, the statement said. It was unclear where the liaison office would be situated. Meanwhile, Syrian activists and opposition groups used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to urge thousands to take to the streets Friday in support of the rebel army. More than 5,000 people have died since mid-March, when al-Assad began the crackdown on anti-government protesters calling for his ouster, the United Nations has said. But opposition groups put the toll at more than 6,000. CNN can not confirm the claims by opposition groups of violence and deaths as Syria's government has limited access to foreign journalists, though a number of journalists have been allowed in to the country in recent weeks to travel with Arab League monitors. France 2 TV journalist Gilles Jacquier was killed this week after a mortar shell struck the pro-government rally he was attending as part of a government-authorized tour of the flashpoint city of Homs, his network said. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said Jacquier was among a delegation of international journalists visiting the city to document the damage by "terrorists." But the Syrian Revolution General Commission, an opposition force, disputed that description of events. It said security forces fired two shells at journalists from an infantry vehicle. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has demanded Syrian authorities divulge details surrounding the killing of Jacquier, saying the government should have ensured the safety of journalists invited to carry out the visit. 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 members of the international news media, to travel freely around Syria. The fact-finding mission, which began December 26, will continue until January 19, said Ambassador Adnan Al Khudeir, head of the operations room to which the Arab monitors report. He put the number of monitors at 163 in 16 teams. One has left because of sickness and another because of personal reasons, he said. Meanwhile, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria -- an opposition group that organizes and documents anti-government demonstrations -- said a 13-year-old girl from a village in Aleppo was shot and killed by government security forces Friday. The girl was traveling with her family when their vehicle was fired upon at a checkpoint, and she was hit three times, the LCC said. Security forces forbade the family from taking the girl to a nearby hospital, and she died at the scene, the group said. The LCC said earlier that 25 people in five provinces were killed Thursday: 10 in Homs, nine in Idlib, four in Deir Ezzor, and one each in Hama and the Damascus suburb of Douma. Two of those killed were military recruits who had defected, the group said. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, Joe Sterling and Journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.