Syrian forces have pulled back from a rebel-held town under a local ceasefire, residents say, but there was no sign of an overall easing of violence as a month-long mandate for Arab peace monitors in Syria expired.

At least 19 people were reported killed elsewhere, adding to a death toll of more than 600 since the monitors arrived in Syria, where an uprising is hardening against President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.