12 dead as army, deserters clash: Syria activists

NICOSIA: Twelve people were killed in clashes between soldiers and deserters in villages of Idlib province in northwest Syria on Thursday, a human rights group said.

"Seven soldiers and five deserters or civilians were killed in the clashes in villages west of Jabal al-Zawiya," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that dozens of people were wounded.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an anti-regime activist network, said soldiers and security forces raided the villages backed by tanks.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011