Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, cited witnesses as saying the military shelled Rameh village to quell daily protests against President Bashar Assad in the area.

Hundreds of other residents fled the village, an activist said by telephone from the area.

“The army is entering village after village,” he told The Associated Press, asking that his name not be used out of fear for his safety. “The men have fled to Damascus and into the mountains. They are afraid they’ll be tortured or arrested.” Syrian activists say 1,400 people have been killed as Assad tries to crush a nationwide pro-democracy movement that has lasted more than three month. The regime disputes that death toll and says “armed thugs” and foreign conspirators are behind the unrest.

The military operation in Idlib province is part of a sweep against dissident centers the government fears could become a base for a wider rebellion. Besides Rameh, the Syrian army advanced on a series of other hamlets: Marayn, Ihsim, Barshoun and the Roman-era village of Al-Bara.

Over the past three weeks, thousands of Syrians have streamed into refugee camps in neighboring Turkey.

On Wednesday, hundreds of refugees at two camps along the border held a simultaneous, hour-long protest against Assad and denounced the violence in Idlib.