Outside Hama, army deserters attacked a convoy of military jeeps, killing eight soldiers, they said, adding to a death toll of at least 30 people across the country on December 14.

The assault in Hama was the first armored incursion there since a tank offensive in August crushed huge protests in the city.

Activists said troops fired machineguns and ransacked and burnt shops which had closed to observe a mass, open-ended "Strike for Dignity" called by the opposition.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died in Assad's crackdown on protests that erupted in the southern city of Deraa in March, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.

Assad, 46, whose family from the minority Alawite sect has held power in majority Sunni Muslim Syria for four decades, is facing the most serious challenge to his 11-year rule.

The demonstrations started with peaceful calls for reform but burgeoned into demands for Assad's overthrow. A growing armed insurgency has since raised the specter of civil war.

The Syrian government says more than 1,100 members of the army, police and security services have been killed. State media reported military funerals on December 14 for seven soldiers and police killed by "armed terrorist groups."