Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have killed seven children during fighting for the town of Nabek, north of the capital Damascus, activists said.

The fighting in Nabek pits Assad's army and allied militia against the opposition factions.
Images posted on social media showed what activists said were the bloodied corpses of five children and said up to seven had been killed.

Some blamed a Shia militia for the killings, but this could not be confirmed. The opposition forces are mostly Sunni Muslims.

Nabek is 80 kms north of Damascus on Syria's north-south highway that links 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 regime launched an offensive to secure towns along the road. Fighters from the Lebanese Shia group, Hezbollah, joined in on the government side.

Pro-regime forces shelled the eastern areas of Nabek and raided homes in western areas as clashes continued on Sunday.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in the year-old brutal crackdown and efforts by divided world powers to end the violence have made little progress.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Free Syrian Army fighter throws a bicycle to distract snipers loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad in Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria December 6, 2013.

Al-Jazeera