Arab League to strengthen Syria mission, official says The Arab body has no plan to act on a call to pull its observers out of Syria, an official says Monitors went in last month after the U.N. estimated more than 5,000 people have died The advance team is preparing a report on the situation in Syria Bashar al-Assad says his forces are cracking down on armed terrorists (CNN) -- Arab League monitors remain in Syria, and more are on the way, a top official with the Arab body said, despite a call by an Arab League advisor to pull the observers out. An advance team of monitors returned to Cairo on Sunday after 10 days in the violence-wracked country, but the main body of observers remains in Syria, said the official, who asked not to be named discussing diplomatic business. The team that has returned is preparing a report which should be released soon, said the official, speaking late on Sunday. Arab League observers went into Syria in December after the United Nations estimated that 5,000 people had been killed since March in an uprising against the government. President Bashar al-Assad's government says it is cracking down on armed terrorists. The head of an advisory board to the Arab League called Sunday for the withdrawal of observers from Syria, claiming the mission has allowed Syrian officials to continue a brutal crackdown on protesters. The Arab League has not scheduled a meeting to discuss al-Deqbasi's statement, the Arab League source said. CNN cannot independently verify accounts of violence or reports of deaths and injuries in Syria because al-Assad's government has restricted journalists from working freely in the country. Last month, al-Assad agreed to a peace initiative with the Arab League that calls for security forces to withdraw from cities, release detainees and end violence. CNN's Amir Ahmed and Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.