December 20, 2011 -- Updated 1312 GMT (2112 HKT)
How Arab unrest unfolded: Syria, Libya
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Monday may have had the highest death toll of the uprising, the opposition says
- Opposition groups say more than 100 were killed Monday
- The threat to execute terrorists is a major escalation against protesters
- The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 have died in Syrian violence this year
The announcement comes as two opposition groups claimed that more than 100 people were killed Monday, which would be the single deadliest known day of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that dozens of Syrian army defectors were gunned down as they tried to flee their posts in Idlib.
"On Monday there were 60 to 70 army deserters killed while they were trying to run away from their military positions," said the London-based group's Rami Abdel Rahman.
He said another 40 civilians were killed the same day "across Syria during house-to-house raids, arrests, and clashes between army defectors and the Syrian army."
"Monday may have been a day with the highest death toll in Syria, between 100 and 110 killed in total," he said.
Former Syrian ambassador flees 
Report: Human rights violations in Syria The Syrian government did not immediately respond to the claim. CNN could not independently verify the allegations because Syria restricts the activity of journalists in the country.
The Syrian government maintains that it is cracking down on armed terrorists who attack security forces and civilians.
A new law published Tuesday specifies that anyone who distributes weapons for the purpose of committing terrorist acts will get the death penalty, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
It also mandates a life sentence of hard labor for weapons smugglers who intend to traffic them for terrorist acts.
Monday's reported deaths came the same day that Syria signed an Arab League proposal aimed at ending the violence.
The Arab League expelled Syria over its crackdown.
The signing came just days after the Cairo-based group of Arab nations warned it could ask the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the restive country.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem announced Monday that Damascus had signed the deal, insisting: "We want a political solution. I do not want the killings to go on."
Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun was not impressed by the signing of the agreement.
"The Syrian regime is playing games and wants to buy time. We are quite surprised that the Arab League is allowing this to take place," the head of the Syrian National Council said Monday in comments on Orient TV from Tunisia.
Separately, Ghalioun urged the international community to enforce a buffer zone to protect civilians.
Council members meeting in Tunisia declined to say whether they would support the use of foreign military force to enforce such a zone, but stressed their belief that international intervention is necessary.
"This regime has proven time and time again that it is a regime built on lies and force," Ghalioun told CNN. "We need a safety zone to protect and prevent efforts by the regime to transform the crisis into a civil conflict."
Five Arab League ministers drafted a resolution Saturday calling for the end of violence and approving an observer mission in Syria.
World powers have denounced the Syrian government's activity, saying they are are looking for ways to rein in violence and urgently contain the threat of civil war, reflected in the emergence of the armed defector force.
CNN's Rima Maktabi and Journalists Taylor Luck and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.
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