A Syrian rebel army chief urged the world on Tuesday, Jan 17, to protect civilians in Syria, saying Arab peace monitors had failed to curb President Bashar al-Assad's violent response to a 10-month-old revolt against his rule, Reuters reports.

UN officials say more than 5,000 people have been killed and Damascus says its security forces have lost 2,000 dead.

Riad al-Asaad, Turkish-based commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, called for international intervention to replace the Arab observer mission, which has just days to run.

"The Arab League and their monitors failed in their mission and though we respect and appreciate our Arab brothers for their efforts, we think they are incapable of improving conditions in Syria or resisting this regime," he told Reuters by telephone.

"For that reason we call on them to turn the issue over to the U.N. Security Council and we ask that the international community intervene because they are more capable of protecting Syrians at this stage than our Arab brothers," Asaad said.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that five soldiers died Monday while trying to defect from the army during a firefight between government and opposition forces in Idlib. Fifteen other soldiers successfully defected, the group said.

Commenting on the incident, Syrian state-run media said an "armed terrorist group" fatally shot Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdul-Hamid al-Awwad in the Gotta area while he headed to work.