Human rights and opposition activists said that some 200 people were killed by Ba'athist Syrian security forces in the hills and villages of the north-western province of Idlib on 19 and 20 December 2011.

On 20 December, government forces backed by tanks reportedly launched an operation to hunt down the defectors who managed to escape.

[1] On 19 December, the FSA suffered its largest loss of life when new defectors tried to abandon their positions and bases between the villages of Kansafra and Kafr Oweid in Idlib province.

Opposition activist groups, specifically the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, reported that 72 defectors were killed as they were gunned down during their attempted escape.

The clashes continued into the next day, and another report, by Lebanese human rights activist Wissam Tarif, put the death toll even higher with 163 defectors, 97 government troops and nine civilians killed on the second day alone as the military tracked down the soldiers and civilians that managed to initially escape.