Syria's state television reported that a mortar round has fallen in front of a historical mosque in the capital, Damascus, killing four people and wounding 26.
It was not clear when the shells fell Friday, the Muslim day of prayer when people traditionally go to mosque at noon for the weekly sermon.
The shelling near the Umayyad Mosque in the old quarter of Damascus came 10 days after a mortar shell hit its wall, causing casualties.
Earlier, Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have recaptured a Christian town on the main highway north of the capital, the army said, putting them back on the offensive in the strategic region near the Lebanese border.
Assad's forces have made advances in recent months and are trying to secure the highway linking Damascus to the coastal heartland of his Alawite minority sect, but faced a setback last week when they lost the town of Deir Attiya to al Qaeda-linked fighters.
The town is in the mountainous Qalamoun area overlooking the highway near the Lebanese border, a region that has emerged as the main battleground as Assad and his opponents try to secure a strategic advantage ahead of a peace conference in January.
Assad's military campaign in Qalamoun was jolted last week by twin suicide attacks from al Qaeda-linked groups on army posts in the nearby town of Nabak.
Taking advantage of confusion among Assad's soldiers, Islamist fighters launched coordinated attacks and pushed the troops out of Nabak and Deir Attiya, whose residents had not joined the revolt against Assad.
The army brought in reinforcements and launched a counter offensive three days ago, retaking Deir Attiya on Thursday and battling rebel fighters in Nabak on Friday.
This comes as the death toll from Thursday's raid that was launched by the Syrian army on the city of Aleppo, has reached 10 persons, half of whom are children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
UNHCR:
The United Nations refugee agency said a growing number of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and Jordan are missing out on education and fast becoming primary providers for their families.
More than two million Syrians fled their homes because of the country's raging conflict and sought shelter abroad.
A report by the UNHCR released Friday said at least half of the refugees 1.1 million are children. Of those, some 75 percent are under the age of 12.
With the war in its third year, refugee families lacking resources are increasingly relying on children as primary providers. The U.N. said children as young as seven work long hours of manual labor in fields, farms and shops for little pay, sometimes under dangerous or exploitative conditions.
OPCW:
More than two dozen companies have expressed their interest in destroying Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, sources at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), told Reuters on Friday.
The global chemical weapons watchdog asked companies a week ago to express interest in destroying nearly 800 tons of chemicals and 7.7 million liters of effluent, or liquid waste. Friday is the deadline for the expressions of interest.
The sources did not reveal which companies had expressed an interest, but Timo Piekkari, chief executive at Finland's state-owned Ekokem, said his firm had done so.
REUTERS/AP