Gunfire rang out in a suburb of Damascus on Monday as Syrian troops carried out arrests of regime opponents in the coastal town of Banias and other protest hubs, AFP reported.
The source of the gunfire could not immediately be determined.
The military statement said on Sunday that six soldiers, including three officers, were killed in clashes as the army pursued "armed terrorist groups" in Homs, Banias and around the southern town of Daraa -- three protest hubs.
“Many terrorists have been killed and others wounded. Scores of them arrested and large quantities of various kinds of weapons have been confiscated,” the military source added.
Meanwhile, the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad vowed on Monday in Al-Watan newspaper to press ahead with reforms and forecast the political crisis in Syria was nearing an end.
"The crisis will pass and end, and the question of administrative, political and press reforms will advance," he was quoted as telling a delegation of residents of Syria's main port city of Latakia, north of Banias.
He stressed the need "to consolidate national unity because the nation is the mother of all of us and we need to unite in the face of this plot," referring to Syrian official charges of terrorist gangs and foreign hands behind the unrest.
Al-Watan said the army had been locked "in a fierce battle against groups using heavy weapons, anti-tank rockets and machine guns" in and around Banias since Friday night.
In the mean time, an official in the Syrian Interior Ministry said that 1083 persons of those involved in the riots have been surrendered, but released after they were committed not to carry out any act, which does wrong to the security of country and citizen.
On the other hand, an Arab media resource said that prince of Emirate of Banias Anas Aerott have been arrested, along with its minister of defense and several Israeli intelligence officers.
On Sunday, a military spokesman said "units of the army and security forces continue to pursue armed terrorist groups... in Homs, Banias and the outskirts of Daraa," the state news agency SANA reported.
SANA also reported that 10 Syrian laborers returning home from Lebanon were killed in an ambush at dawn on Sunday near Homs.
The United States has warned it would take "additional steps" against Syria if it continues its crackdown, while the European Union decided on Friday to impose sanctions on 13 Syrian officials.
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Uprooted Palestinian
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