Clashes between army defectors and government troops killed at least 17 people on Saturday, opposition activists said, DPA reported.
"Seven government soldiers, five army defectors and three civilians were killed in pre-dawn fighting in (the north-western province of) Idlib," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A further two civilians were killed by government forces in the district of Baba Amr in the dissident province of Homs, added the London-based observatory.