Four Syrian soldiers were killed and several civilians wounded on Thursday during clashes between troops and deserters in a town in northwest Syria, rights activists said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops and security agents had attacked villages in the region, “Four soldiers were killed and a number of civilians killed or wounded in fighting this morning between the Syrian army and deserters in Jabal al-Zawiya” in Idlib province near the Turkish border, it said.
Security forces have been trying for months to bring an end to a popular uprising which has seen hundreds of thousands marching in major cities against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria maintains that the regime’s opponents are armed gangs and terrorists trying to sow chaos in the country.
