Syrian government forces on Thursday entered the dissident city of Hama following a night of heavy shelling and made arrests, opposition activists said dpa reported
"Troops backed by around 90 tanks entered Hama and started intimidating people," Saleh al-Hamawi, an activist in the central city, said.
"Men were ordered to strip off and line up in the centre of the city. They were later bundled onto buses to an unknown destination," he added. There were no immediate reports about casualties.
Government forces also bombarded the central province of Homs for the third consecutive day, activists said.
A Syrian army shell fell in neighbouring Lebanon killing a Syrian refugee in the town of al-Baqiaa, activists said. Homs lies some 25 kilometres from the Lebanese border.
More than 12,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon since a pro-democracy uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad erupted more than a year ago.
Syrian forces also launched a fresh attack on Harasta near the capital Damascus, local activists said.
Elsewhere, one government soldier was killed and four injured on Thursday when a group of army defectors fired on a military vehicle in the southern province of Daraa, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
News from Syria cannot be independently verified as the government bars foreign media from restive areas.
The United Nations estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria's year-long conflict