Syrian government forces have renewed their attacks in the capital, Damascus, killing at least 12 people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA Wednesday's deaths occurred in Kfar Souseh, Daraya and other southern districts where anti-government rebels operate.

Residents said the shelling and aerial bombardment were some of the fiercest since the army reasserted control of the opposition neighborhoods. They said rebels who had left the city last month during a brutal army campaign had started to return.

Also Wednesday, medical sources in Lebanon said at least seven people were killed overnight in the northern city of Tripoli in clashes between Sunni Muslims and Alawites divided over Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is from the minority Alawite sect.

More than 100 people have been wounded in fighting which erupted this week along a sectarian fault line separating rival neighborhoods in the city.