Syrian security forces on Tuesday raked with gunfire the village of Baida, near the northwestern city of Banias, injuring at least one person, witnesses told AFP.

"Security forces and armed men are firing machine guns indiscriminately at the village," a witness told AFP.

"The gunfire against Baida is intense like the rain. At least one person was injured," another witness told AFP.

"The goal of the attack is probably the arrest of Anas al-Shukri," one of the leaders of the opposition movement, a human rights activist said.

The army also continued to encircle the protest flashpoint town of Banias on Tuesday, three days after a residential neighbourhood there was strafed by gunfire that left at least four dead and 17 wounded, according to witnesses.

The official Sana news agency had said nine soldiers, including two officers were killed on Sunday when their patrol was ambushed outside the coastal town, 280 kilometres northwest of Damascus.