Deadly clashes broke out between army defectors and Syrian government forces on Saturday as a veteran Norwegian peacekeeper  headed to Damascus to take charge of a UN mission overseeing a troubled truce.

Government troops killed at least 10 rebel fighters in the Damascus region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Separately, the official SANA news agency reported three soldiers and two "terrorists" killed in Aleppo, northern Syria, in clashes between troops and "armed terrorist groups".

An activist said the fighting began as "officers and soldiers of a military base near the presidential palace deserted with their weapons."

And in what was believed to be the first case of Westerners going missing in the violence-swept country, Budapest said two Hungarians had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

[AFP]