The Syrian army has begun an operation in the city of Hama, one of the main centres of anti-government protests.
Troops started moving into the city from several directions at dawn and residents told the BBC there was intense gunfire. At least three tanks were seen near a mosque and there were reports of some residents putting up street barricades.
Syria has seen several months of protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
Centre of protests A doctor in Hama told Reuters news agency that tanks were overrunning barricades put up by locals.
"[Tanks] are firing their heavy machineguns randomly and overrunning makeshift road blocks erected by the inhabitants," he said by phone, with machinegun fire in the background.
Hama was the scene of the suppression of an uprising against President Assad's father in 1982. The city has seen some of the biggest demonstrations of the recent unrest.
Activists say more than 1,500 civilians and 350 security personnel have been killed across Syria since protests began in mid-March. More than 12,600 have been arrested and 3,000 others are missing.
The protests show no sign of letting up despite a government crackdown that has brought international condemnation and sanctions.
On Saturday, troops shot dead three people who threw stones at a military convoy sent to quash unrest in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Spokesman Rami Abdel Rahman said about 60 military vehicles, including tanks, personnel carriers and trucks crammed with soldiers deployed in the key oil hub, which has seen near daily protests.
A total of 20 people were killed and 35 wounded on Friday as hundreds of thousands of protested in cities across Syria, rights groups said.
More than 500 people were arrested in a single operation in the Qadam neighbourhood of the capital Damascus, they added.
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