Human rights activists said another 20 soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Deraa province, south of the capital, while nine soldiers defected to join the rebel troops.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that in addition to the deadly clashes in the village of Basr Al-Harir, there were heavy machine-gun exchanges between the army and deserters in the Deraa town of Dael. There was no immediate word on any casualties.
Deraa — the cradle of the protests against President Bashar Assad that erupted in March — has been one of the provinces hardest hit by the deadly crackdown unleashed by his regime.
An Arab League source said Sunday that the first report by League observers in Syria had recommended the controversial mission continue and said monitors were subjected to "harassment" by the government and the opposition. The report recommends "the mission continue its work" with more technological assistance and "calls on the opposition and the government to let the mission move freely," the source told reporters.
The Arab diplomat was speaking as the head of the observer mission, Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa Al-Dabi, was briefing Arab ministers in Cairo on the results of the monitors' visit.
A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since Dec. 26, trying to assess whether Assad's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.
Critics say it has been completely outmanoeuvred by the government and has failed to make any progress toward stemming the crackdown. They have called for the mission to pull out.
The report said the observers had been "subjected to harassment by the Syrian government and by the opposition."
The monitors said that military vehicles had been stationed in most cities they visited.
The report said that some observers saw bodies on the street, and that the government and opposition had traded blame over who was behind the killings, the source said.
The document also confirms the release of hundreds of prisoners but says the monitors could not identify whether they were political detainees, the source added.
