At least four people were killed Friday in mortar fire near the famed Ummayad mosque in Damascus, as Syrian forces pressed an operation against rebels in the strategic Qalamoun region.
In Geneva, meanwhile, the UN released a new report highlighting the plight of Syrian child refugees.
"Mortars fired by terrorists in front of the Ummayad mosque have killed four people and injured 26," state television said.
State news agency SANA said that a child and a woman were among the dead, and that
Central Damascus is regularly targeted by rebels from rear bases on the outskirts of the capital. At least nine children were killed earlier this month when rebel shells fell on a school and hit a bus transporting youngsters.
On Thursday, a Syrian was killed and nine others wounded when mortar fire hit the Russian embassy, the foreign ministry in Moscow said.
Outside of Damascus, the army pressed its campaign to encircle rebels near the capital by capturing Qalamoun and severing rebel supply lines across the border with Lebanon.