BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections on Monday to save the nation from "conspiracies against us" but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

As voting began, security forces battled pro-opposition army defectors in clashes that are starting to eclipse the campaign of peaceful street protest that began the uprising against Assad nine months ago, raising fears that Syria is drifting into civil war.