The violence came as freedom fighters pushed a campaign of civil disobedience launched Sunday with a general strike across Syria designed to bring down the regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
Five people were also maimed in Idlib, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Army deserters were locked in heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
since dawn with regular troops in two Idlib villages, it added.
Similar fighting was also raging Monday morning in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of nearly nine months of anti-regime dissent, it said.
The opposition Syrian National Council meanwhile said in a statement that the "dignity" general strike launched Sunday was widely observed in 12 provinces across Syria against "all expectations."
The SNC urged Syrian citizens from all walks of life as well as labor unions to pursue the strike, saying it was essential "for the success of the revolution and the establishment of a civilian democratic nation."
The general strike is part of a campaign of civil disobedience called by activists who have announced plans to shut down universities, public transport, the civil service and major highways.
Rights groups had earlier reported that at least 13 non-combatants were killed on Sunday by regime forces, five of them in the flashpoint central province of Homs as fears grew of an "invasion" of the besieged protest hub.
U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who has said more than 4,000 people have been killed in the government crackdown on dissent, is to brief the U.N. Security Council on Syria later Monday.