The International Committee of the Red Cross said the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branch in the northern town of Idlib was shot dead on Wednesday, as activists reported deadly clashes elsewhere between government forces and army defectors.

Abdulrazak Jbero was on his way by from Damascus to Idlib when he was shot, said Hicham Hassan, an ICRC spokesman in Geneva. An ICRC statement said he was riding in a "vehicle clearly marked with a Red Crescent emblem" and expressed shock at the killing.

Syria's...