On Friday, rebel fighter Kaikooni, who’s in Turkey temporarily to accompany a member of his group who’d left Syria for medical treatment, received a call reporting that rebels had just taken control of another village in the country’s north.

Overall, the numbers suggest, however, that while international denunciations have increased in the wake of the executions last week of more than 80 women and children in the town of Houla, the drop in violence since the peace plan went into effect has been significant, though the level of violence remains high.

Ahmed Hassan, a Syrian human rights lawyer who’s recorded killings and arrests in the northern city of Jisr al Shughour near the Turkish border since the uprising began, said the Syrian military had been stepping up arrests since the peace plan went into effect.

“Six hundred people were arrested in Jisr al Shughour between January and March of this year, and 700 were arrested in April and May,” he said.

Activists in other parts of the country have reported an increase in arrests as well, though numbers are difficult to come by. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it was attempting to compile a list of all those who’d been arrested, which activists say numbers in the tens of thousands.

Of the dead, 545 died after being tortured under detention, the network said.

Hassan predicted that the violence is likely to get worse the longer Assad remains in power, and other activists note that fears that it will take on an increasingly sectarian cast are growing.

The U.N. has said the killings in Houla were carried out by so-called Shabiha, a pro-government militia made up largely of Alawites, the same Shiite Muslim sect to which Assad belongs. Since the beginning of the uprising, the Syrian government has accused Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority of the country’s population, of leading the campaign to oust the president.

“Some people are fleeing villages, fearing more sectarian attacks,” said Mousab al Hamadee, an anti-government activist near Hama, a city north of Homs.

“If the international community remains silent, the violence will increase,” Hassan said. “We are heading for a sectarian war. I am very afraid. Any action has a reaction.”