* Bassma Kodmani says Assad denying monitors full access
* Sees armed resistance growing if they write "weak" report
* No let-up in violence since Arab observers arrived
By Nour Merza
DUBAI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - More Syrians might opt to use force against President Bashar al-Assad if Arab League monitors fail to pinpoint mass killings of protesters, a Syrian opposition leader said on Friday.
Arab monitors began a mission this week to check Syria&${esc.hash}39;s compliance with a League plan to end a nine-month crackdown on protests that were inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.
"We fear they will not see the reality on the ground and might produce a weak report," Bassma Kodmani, a prominent member of the main opposition Syrian National Council, told Reuters.
She said Assad&${esc.hash}39;s government had not allowed monitors to move freely or to contact independent witnesses of the repression.
Ten more people were shot dead in Syrian cities on Friday, opposition activists said. Some of them complain the bloodshed has worsened since the Arab observers arrived.
The danger, Kodmani argued in an interview in Dubai, was that the monitors would depict the crisis in Syria as a conflict between two armed groups, which would discourage the Arab League from sending its report to the U.N. Security Council for review.
"The loss of trust with the Arab countries and outside world will lead to deep frustration and strengthen the voice of those calling for militancy," Kodmani said.
"Some will say that the only way to face such force is to respond with force... This temptation is strong, because people are paying too high a price to continue resisting peacefully."
The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since March, many during peaceful protests, but an anti-Assad insurgency led by army deserters has burgeoned.
The authorities say 2,000 troops and police have been killed by foreign-backed armed "terrorists" and Islamist militants.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
Kodmani said opposition leaders fear a shift to violent resistance would weaken what she said was strong international backing for the peaceful pro-democracy movement in Syria.
"If we go into an armed strategy we face the risk of losing international support and the people will be left facing the regime on their own," she added. "We need that international support very badly."
Assad agreed in November to the Arab League plan to withdraw troops and tanks from the streets, free political prisoners and start a dialogue with the opposition, but then stalled for weeks before allowing the monitoring mission into the country.
Western scepticism about the mission was reinforced by an initial comment from its Sudanese chief that the situation in the restive city of Homs was "reassuring", a judgment accepted on Friday by Syria&${esc.hash}39;s longtime ally Russia.
Kodmani said that while the Syrian opposition backed the mission as the first opportunity for outsiders to see the realities of the crisis, it also recognised that the Arab League had no deterrent force to protect civilians if need be.
"The history of the League is mediation. But it doesn&${esc.hash}39;t have an Arab force that is available to be deployed. So even if there is political will, those coercive measures are not available at the regional level," she said.
Kodmani said the Syrian opposition may seek international intervention unless the killing of civilians stopped.
So far there has been little Western appetite for, and strong Russian and Chinese opposition to, any Libya-style military action that helped rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi.
"Somebody has to step in to take measures to protect civilians," Kodmani declared. "Only the Security Council has the means to force a regime to implement something." (Editing by Alistair Lyon)
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