Western-backed Syrian terrorists clash with troops near Turkish border’

Anti-government Syrian armed groups have reportedly clashed with the country’s troops in the northwest near the common border with Turkey one day after a ceasefire came into effect.

The fighting broke out in the village of Khirbet al-Joz, located in Idlib Province, on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, AFP reported.

The clashes erupted after the Syrian Army was deployed to force out the armed men, who had violently seized a post.

A ceasefire brokered by the UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan started on Thursday.

The Syrian government has said in the past that it reserves the right to respond in kind to any possible attacks by armed groups.

According to Syrian media, the anti-government armed groups were “intensifying criminal operations in an attempt to destabilize Syria and torpedo the [Annan] plan.”

Syria has been experiencing the unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces.

Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the government of killing protesters.