Syrian forces have stormed a village near the Turkish border as part of the government's widening crackdown on dissent.

Rights activists and witnesses say troops with tanks and armored personnel carriers swept into Bdama, where they fired machine guns and arrested at least 70 people Saturday. Witnesses say the forces set at least two houses on fire.

The incident took place a day after security forces shot and killed at least 19 protesters as tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in cities and towns across the country.

Bdama is a short distance from the Turkish border. One activist with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the town's residents had been supplying refugees as they fled across the border to makeshift tent encampments in Turkey.

More than 10,000 Syrian refugees are now staying there in a vast landscape of white tents. Many of them have fled the Turkish towns to the south that President Bashar al-Assad's troops have targeted in their three-month crackdown on anti-government protests.

Meanwhile, Lebanon deployed soldiers in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday after deadly clashes erupted following a rally in support of Syria's opposition.

The clashes on Friday left seven people dead and 25 wounded. Residents from a Sunni Muslim neighborhood in Tripoli fought with those from a neighborhood inhabited by members of the Shi'ite Alawite sect, which includes Syrian President Assad's family.

With turmoil in Syria spreading, the British Foreign Office on Saturday urged its nationals to leave the country immediately while commercial transportation is still available. It warned them that if they stay, and there is more violent civil disorder, it is “highly unlikely” that the British Embassy in Damascus would be able to help them.

Also, United States said it is considering whether war-crimes charges can be brought against Mr. Assad as part of a larger diplomatic effort to get his government to end its crackdown on dissent.

Rights activists and witnesses say more than 1,400 civilians have been killed since mid-March and 10,000 detained.