文中のas の意味は？ を英語に訳すと？

以下の文のwatchの目的語にあたるものがどれなのか分かりません。またここでのasは前置詞、接続詞どちらでしょう？どなたか教えて下さい。

I watched close at hand as the leaders of various peoples, be they Serbian, Croat or Bosniak, deliberately reminded their 'tribes' of the ancient div isions and, yes, ancient suspicions in a region crowded with diversity.