Syrian forces have stormed a town on the main road leading to Turkey after troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had earlier fought a night-time battle in Damascus with army defectors.
Six months into a popular uprising, Assad is under pressure from street protests and from Arab foreign ministers who told Syria to work to end bloodshed 'before it is too late.'
The Arab League has decided to send its secretary-general to Damascus to push for reforms , while the president of neighbouring Turkey said he had lost confidence in Syria.
Residents of Khan Sheikhoun, on the main road 245km north of Damascus, said two people had been killed in an army assault on their town.
In Damascus, dozens of soldiers defected and fled into al-Ghouta, an area of farmland, after pro-Assad forces fired at a large crowd of demonstrators near the suburb of Harasta to prevent them from marching on the centre.
A statement published on the Internet by the Free Officers, a group that says it represents defectors, said 'large defections' occurred in Harasta and security forces and shabbiha loyal to Assad were chasing the defectors.
It was the first reported defection around the capital, where Assad's core forces are based.
Official denial
Syrian authorities have repeatedly denied any army defections have been taking place.
They have expelled independent media since the uprising against Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, erupted in March.
Activists have been reporting increasing defections among the rank-and-file army, mostly drawn from Syria's Sunni majority but dominated by an Alawite officer core effectively under the command of Assad's brother Maher.
In the eastern town of Albu Kamal, which has been besieged by tanks for weeks after large protests, an activist said police snipers fired at protesters who streamed out of a main mosque after nightly Ramadan prayers, injuring five people.
The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed since Assad sent in tanks and troops to crush months of street demonstrations calling for an end to his family's 41-year rule.
