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(CNN) -- The death and discord plaguing Syria hit home for the United Nations on Wednesday as the world body temporarily withdrew some staff members amid the violence there.

The United Nations is relocating 26 non-essential international staff members and their families from Syria, said Michael Williams, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon.

He said he had been concerned over the conflict in Latakia, the port city where Syrian forces kicked off an offensive this weekend.

There are normally more than 160 international U.N. staffers in Syria, with many of them based in Damascus, a spokesman said. The largest U.N. agency in Syria has been the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, with 61.

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council will be briefed on Syria in closed consultations by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay; Valerie Amos, under-secretary-general of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief efforts; and a U.N. political officer.

The meeting is not expected to result in issuance of a statement or adoption of a resolution; its purpose is to get the 15-member council closer to a decision on how to proceed.

In a statement this month, the Security Council called on Syria "to alleviate the humanitarian situation in crisis areas by ceasing the use of force against affected towns, to allow expeditious and unhindered access for international humanitarian agencies and workers, and cooperate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights."

"We hope that we're near the point that a mission will be able to go in," Amos said Wednesday. "Areas where there've been reports of fighting is our priority."

The U.N. Human Rights Council is also focused on the unrest. It plans to hold a special session Monday on Syria, according to Cedric Sepe, press officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He said member states have called for the session, in Geneva, Switzerland, and it may extend into Tuesday.

These moves reflect international anxiety and outrage among world powers, including the United States, and among Syria's neighbors, including Jordan and Turkey, over the crackdown.

Tunisia has recalled its ambassador to Syria for "consultations," the Tunisian news agency said Wednesday, citing an "authorized" Foreign Ministry source.

"This measure was taken as a result of the recent dangerous developments in Syria," the source reportedly said.

Last week, Saudi King Abdullah called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and recalled the Saudi ambassador from Damascus.

Bahrain and Kuwait also have recalled their ambassadors from Syria and called on the Bashar al-Assad regime to end crackdowns.

While the government has maintained that it is targeting "armed groups" and "terrorists" during the country's five-month long unrest, witnesses and activists say the government has been brutally cracking down on civilians amid calls for al-Assad's ouster.

Reports of violence persisted Wednesday.

Syria's state-run media said military forces have departed two major cities on both ends of the country after putting down "armed terrorist groups," but activists in at least one of those cities dispute that assertion.

Security force pullouts have been reported in the western port city of Latakia and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. But one activist group, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, said they haven't left the restive Latakia neighborhood of Ramel.

There is a lot of anti-government sentiment in Ramel, which also is the home of a Palestinian refugee camp. The camp normally holds 10,000 people, but many people have fled in recent days.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said Wednesday that it had determined the whereabouts of some 2,000 of the displaced people and were providing them with aid.

"The Syrian authorities are cooperating with the distribution of cash and the work of UNRWA at the local level and in Damascus," said Chris Guness, a spokesman for the agency.

About 50 refugees were in a sports facility in Latakia, and another 150 families were in Homs, in central Syria, "but UNRWA has no information at this time on most of the remaining refugees," he said. Three Palestinian refugees died in the camp, and only five to 10 families -- unable physically to leave -- remained, he said.

Gunfire was heard sporadically there Wednesday morning, and snipers were perched upon rooftops, said the Local Coordination Committees, a coalition of activists who organize and document protests.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another activist group, said Wednesday that a woman in Latakia's Al Kalaa neighborhood died of wounds sustained Monday and that an activist saw the bodies of three civilians who were killed by gunshots in one of the government hospitals.

In the Idlib province city of Jabala al-Zawiya in the northwest, a man standing on his balcony was killed as security forces carried out military and security operations, the observatory said.

"I don't know if I can get outside of the city now; the military is everywhere," a resident said.

Nine people were killed in the western city of Homs, the observatory said. One was killed in the Nazehein neighborhood during security raids, two by "pro-regime thugs" in the Al Waer neighborhood and three by sniper fire, it said. Security forces arrested more than 40 people, it said.

The Local Coordination Committees said that at least 2,545 people have died since the protests began. The vast majority were civilians, and 391 were security personnel, the group said.

CNN cannot independently verify opposition or government claims because Syria has restricted international journalists from reporting inside the country.

CNN's Joe Vaccarello, Nada Husseini and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

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