DAMASCUS: Troops clashed with armed dissidents and killed five people during a raid in northwest Syria on Thursday as anti-government protests flared across the country, activists said.

“The Syrian army backed by tanks and armoured troop carriers launched an assault this morning on the town of Banash, and clashes took place with armed men who were apparently dissidents,” the rights group said.

Five civilians were killed in Banash during the military operations, the Observatory said, adding that the army also launched an attack on Taum village, to the east.

“Several houses were partly destroyed and people were wounded... while the noise of heavy machineguns and explosions could be heard in several parts of the town and ambulances seen racing through the streets,” it said.

The Local Coordination Committees, which act as umbrella groups for protesters seeking to bring down President Bashar al-Assad, said soldiers and security forces also carried out a raid on Homs in central Syria.

Heavy gunfire could be heard.

Security forces have set up checkpoints and made more than 50 arrests during raids in Qusayr, near the city of Homs, the Observatory said.

Clashes also erupted in the flashpoint southern province of Daraa, where armed men - also apparent defectors - killed one officer and eight soldiers, the Observatory said.

It said 25 civilians were arrested, including 12 members of the same family.

On Wednesday, thousands of Syrians who back the president rallied in the centre of Damascus to show support for the regime which has faced seven months of anti-Assad protests.

In apparent response to the loyalist rally, anti-regime protests erupted in Idlib in the northwest, in the port of Latakia, Homs, Deir Ezzor in the east, Daraa in the south and near Damascus, the Observatory said.

On Wednesday, a court in the capital freed on bail prominent dissident Walid al-Bunni, who was arrested in August, his lawyer Michel Shammas said.

“The Damascus court of appeals on Wednesday freed opposition figure Walid al-Bunni in exchange for a bail of 1,150 Syrian pounds (dollar 23).

He will be tried later for inciting (anti-regime) demonstrations and sectarianism,” he said.

Bunni was detained on August 6 along with his two sons, who were released shortly afterwards.

In 2000, Bunni was a prime mover of the short-lived “Damascus Spring” amid hopes for reform that followed Assad's rise to the presidency after the death of his father, Hafez.

Reforms were promised but never came, and according to the United Nations the regime's crackdown on protests that began in mid-March has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,900 people.

Syrian authorities blame gangs of armed terrorists for the bloodshed.