Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least five children during fighting for the town of Nabak north of the capital Damascus, activists said on Sunday.
The fighting in Nabak pits Assad's army and allied militia against rebel factions including two linked to al Qaeda, the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition monitoring group, said five children were shot dead when pro-Assad forces entered Nabak's industrial area.
Activists posted images on social media of the bloodied corpses of five children and said up to seven had been killed. Some blamed a Shi'ite militia for the killings, but this could not be confirmed. The rebels are mostly Sunni Muslims.
"What we know is that they (the children) were killed by shooting," Rami Abdulrahman, the Observatory's director, said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Nabak lies 80 km (50 miles) north of Damascus on Syria's north-south highway linking the capital to the central city of Homs and the coastal heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect.
Fighting in the area intensified last month when the government launched an offensive to secure towns along the road.
The Observatory said pro-government forces shelled the eastern areas of Nabak and raided homes in the western areas as clashes continued on Sunday. Fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah joined in on the government side, it added.
The state news agency SANA made no mention of casualties, but said the army was carrying out operations in the area and had eliminated "armed terrorist groups" around Nabak.
More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-1/2-year-old conflict and efforts by divided world powers to end the violence have made little progress.
Syrian Greek Orthodox nuns:
The Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East on Sunday appealed for the return of a group of Syrian Greek Orthodox nuns who were reportedly seized by rebels from a convent near the Syrian capital Damascus.
"We are urging all those who have influence, directly or indirectly, to put an end to the nuns' cause, so our sisters, the nuns, and the girls of the orphanage, will be with us today and not tomorrow," said John X, who is the regional head of the Greek Orthodox Church.
He was speaking at a Greek Orthodox service on Sunday in the capital.
Rights activists and religious officials claim the nuns and three civilians were taken by rebels from the Mar Takla convent in Maaloula on Monday after rebels overran the village, and were being kept in the nearby rebel-held town of Yabroud.
The nuns' disappearance has sparked increased concerns about the treatment of Christians by hard-liners in the rebel ranks, particularly as the fighting has engulfed more Christian villages in recent months.
However, in a video aired by the Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Friday, the nuns denied they had been kidnapped and said they were being held in a safe place.
The video appeared authentic, but it was impossible to independently verify it or to know if the nuns were speaking under duress.
Christians and other minorities tend to support the government of President Bashar Assad, who comes from a Shiite offshoot sect.
They are concerned about the rising role of al-Qaeda-linked groups in the rebel movement, dominated by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority.
REUTERS/AP