BBC News with David Austin

Activist groups in Syria say government forces have killed up to 40 people in new violence on Thursday. They say security forces shot into the crowds gathering in neighbourhoods that were expecting visits by observers from the Arab League. Jim Muir reports from Beirut.

The body of 40-year-old Mario Khutan lies in a darkened room in Hama, his young son mourning over him. Activists say he was one of many killed by security forces since the Arab observers began their mission on Tuesday. Wherever they've gone, the observers have drawn huge crowds of anti-regime protesters - all desperate to

vent

their grievances. They are chanting "the people want you to hang Bashar". This was in Idlib in the northwest, near the Turkish border, and they were referring to President Bashar al-Assad.

Security forces in Egypt have

raided

the offices of a number of pro-democracy and human rights groups. Computers and papers are said to have been seized. Among the offices raided are two US-based organisations: the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. The United States said it's deeply

concerned over

the raids. A spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, described them as inappropriate.

"We call on the Egyptian government to immediately end the

harassment

of (NGOs,) NGO staff, return all property and resolve this issue immediately." Egypt recently blamed foreign intervention for the