Fierce fighting has killed at least 18 soldiers and two army deserters in northwestern Syria on Monday, a UK-based activist group said.

The clashes, which took place in an area between Atareb town in northern Aleppo province and Kafar Karmin in the neighbouring region of Idlib, also destroyed tanks and armoured personnel carriers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.

The latest reported casualties bring to 38 the number of people killed in Syria on Monday, according to the Observatory, among them five civilians, 11 deserters and 22 soldiers.

Earlier, the group said Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters overnight, as they were retreating under cover of darkness from the village of Jisr al-Ab near Damascus's Douma suburb.

Elsewhere, five civilians were killed, including two in a bombing and military raid in central Hama province, one by unidentified gunmen in the nearby region of Homs, and two more in fighting between the army and rebels in coastal Banias.

[Source: AFP]