Syrian monitor mission on brink of split The Arab League is finding conflict observation a tough task. The organisation's first attempts in Syria are fraying at the edges. One observer has quit the mission and others may follow. It is a headache for controversial mission head Mohammed al-Dabi, who met ambassadors on Thursday, and has a January 19th deadline to report on the situation in Syria. Anwar Malek, you've heard of him. He spoke to several media channels a lot. This man has betrayed his promise as he vowed not to speak. But this isn't the essential thing, what is essential is that what he said was untrue," he said of the departed observer's claims. Malek, an Algerian, quit claiming several of his colleagues, from Morocco, Djibouti and Egypt had also left and others would soon. Al-Dabi insisted Malek, who had been posted to Homs, again the scene of fighting on Thursday, had not left his hotel room in six days, "pretending to be sick." Elsewhere, Turkish border police had to turn back about 200 Syrian opposition militants from taking what they called a humanitarian aid convoy into Syria, another sign of growing impatience with the bloodshed. More about: Arab League, Bashar al-Assad, Protest, Syria, Syrian army, Unrest in the Arab world