Thousands of Syrians welcomed UN observers as they arrived the Damascus suburb of Douma on Monday.

A team of eight observers was sent to Syria as part of Kofi Annan's peace plan which aims at putting an end to the violence in the country. More monitors are expected to arrive in the coming days. A total of 300 observers should be sent to Syria. However the U.N. has not specified when the full mission will arrive.

EU foreign ministers have agreed news sanctions against Bashar al-Assad regime. These sanctions include restricting exports to Syria of luxury products and certain goods that could be used for repression.