Deadly attacks reported in run-up to expected announcement on regional body's plan to end violence in the country.
The Arab League is meeting in Cairo to discuss ways to ease the violence in Syria even as it awaits that country's response to a peace plan that calls for the withdrawal of tansk and armoured vehicles from the streets.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists say Syrian security forces have killed at least 13 factory workers in a village northwest of Homs.
The victims were stopped at a roadblock on Wednesday where they were shot by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the activists said.
"They were workers at a small building blocks factory. The exact time of their death is not known, but it appears it was this morning," Ahmad Fouad, a Homs-based activist, told the Reuters news agency by phone.
An activist submitted a Youtube video, purportedly shot in the village of Kfar Laha, that showed several bodies, gagged and with their hands tied behind their backs.
Kfar Laha, in the Houla region, is considered a centre for protests against Assad's government. The region is also home to an armed movement opposing the president.
The reported deaths come on the heels of an expected announcement in Cairo to make public Syrian government acceptance of an Arab League brokered deal to end seven months of protest. The plan calls for the withdrawal of tanks and armoured vehicles from the streets and free elections.
'Revenge' attack
Wednesday's killings of those opposed to the Assad government follow online claims that nine members of the president's own Alawite sect had been dragged from a bus and then shot by assailants in the western province of Homs.
The claims were made by an activist out of Homs and on a social-networking site supportive of the Assad government.
Omar Idlibi, a prominent activist in exile in Beirut, told the Reuters news agency that circumstances of Tuesday's bus incident remained unclear.
However he did say that the shooting occurred near a main army roadblock in Homs. The nine pro-government supporters killed included at least one Sunni Muslim and two Christians.
It is suspected that Wednesday's attack on the villagers was a revenge attack following the incident on Tuesday.
The UN says more than 3,000 people have been killed in the government crackdown on protesters since the uprisings against Assad first began in March. He has been accused of employing tanks and troops against civilians.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups who they claim to be financed from abroad. These groups, the government says, were responsible for the deaths of 1,100 members of security forces.