The Syrian army entered the town of Zabadani after large protests in support of army defectors rocked the country Friday, the BBC reported.

Major cities including Homs, Alleppo, Hama, and suburbs of Damascus saw rallies today, according to Al Jazeera.

More from GlobalPost: Nabil Elaraby, Arab League chief, said civil war in Syria a possibility

Syrian activist Abu Rami al Homsi told Jazeera: "There were large protests in Karm al-Zeitoun and Karm al-Shami and a large sit-in in al-Khaldiyeh. There were all dispersed brutally by security forces," he said.

Reuters reported that Zabadani, a town of 40,000 near the main border crossing between Lebanon Syria, “has seen regular big demonstrations demanding the removal of President Bashar al-Assad."

Zabadani residents said they explosions and saw 50 tanks enter the city. CNN reported that the nationwide death toll from Friday’s protests and crackdown was at 11, according to activists.

On Friday the Syrian National Council, an anti-government group, announced it had allied with the Free Syrian Army, as fears of a civil war in Syria mount. CNN reported:

The move coincides with reports of increased violence against demonstrators by security forces despite the ongoing efforts of an Arab League fact-finding mission to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end the crackdown.

More from GlobalPost: Syrian rebels buying arms from army defectors