At least 16 Syrian soldiers were killed on Sunday in separate attacks, one in the northwest and the other near the capital, activists and official media reported.

Ten members of the military died when their convoy was attacked at Kansafra in the Jebel al-Zuwiya area of the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

And the official SANA news agency said "an armed terrorist group" killed six others, including two officers, when a bus carrying army personnel was targeted near the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya.