A 60-year-old Syrian man at the refugee camp in Yayladagi, on the Turkish side of the border, said other refugees in the camp had spoken by telephone with relatives in the villages who gave similar reports.

Image The Syrian government has put down protests in many areas. Credit... The New York Times

“They are talking about the army moving with all kinds of armed vehicles and shooting randomly” with tanks and heavy weapons, he said. “The army passed through Al Sarmaneyah and troops are shooting everyone who comes along their way. It is terrible there.”

Jisr al-Shoughour has taken on critical importance for both the Syrian government and its opponents because of the reports of dozens of defections, activists said. The government has been counting on the loyalty of its troops to quell the unrest.

For days, activists have been saying soldiers there joined the opposition, after refusing to fire on civilian demonstrators. The government has steadfastly denied the reports.

The struggle to control the narrative of what happened in the town early this week continued Friday. Late in the day, the official news agency SANA posted reports under a rubric, “The Reality of Events,” casting doubt on activists’ reports of defections. It included an interview with a white-haired man who claimed that he had been offered money to pose as a deserting general and with two men who said they had been reported to have been killed by fellow security officers.

Reports from Jisr al-Shoughour, which remained without electricity, water and Internet access, became increasingly difficult to confirm and even many cellphones and satellite phones seemed not to be working Friday.