The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote today on whether to send an observer mission to Syria to monitor government compliance with the peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan. The ceasefire has come under doubt after activists said government troops had continued to deploy tanks, snipers and armed checkpoints in key areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least four people were shot dead in Syria on Thursday, including three people killed by snipers in the city of Homs. Scattered violence has been reported today, with clashes erupting between government troops and rebels near the Turkish border. Bassma Kodmani of the Syrian National Council said the government’s response to peaceful protests will be a key test.

Bassma Kodmani: “Snipers are deployed across the country in all the populated areas and the centers. There has been an increase, a big increase, in the number of checkpoints, and those checkpoints are heavily armed. The real test for us today is if people can go down and demonstrate peacefully, whether that will be possible. This is the real reality check.”