Cabinet considers request to send Irish officials to Syria

The Cabinet is this morning considering a United Nations request to deploy a small number of Irish officials to help with the peace mission in Syria.

It is understood the mission would comprise unarmed monitors, and not troops.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the Government would consider the request.

"Ireland has a long and proud record of participating in United Nations missions. I think this is something the Government will decide this morning," he said.

Meanwhile, three intelligence officers have been killed in Damascus, a Syrian activist group said today.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three were killed in the Barzeh district of the capital early today. It gave no further information and the Syrian government has not commented.

The 13-month-old Syria conflict has grown more militarised as rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad have ramped up attacks on military targets and security officers.

The UN says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, most of them civilians.

The Observatory said 55 people were killed yesterday alone, most of them in a district of Hama following a visit by a UN monitoring team.