A Syrian army shelling of Damascus killed six people Wednesday and 11 others died in a rebel attack on a Alawite village in central Syria, a monitoring group said.

The army targeted the southern Damascus neighbourhood of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, killing "a woman, three children and two men", said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In central Damascus, several people were wounded when mortar rounds launched by rebels landed near Baghdad Street and in the Kassaa neighbourhood, said the Britain-based group.

Another 11 people, including women, were killed when rebels attacked a majority Alawite village in the central province of Homs, said the Observatory.

The rebels had entered the village of Shalluh but later withdrew, said the Observatory which relies on medics and activists on the ground for its reports.

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs to the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while most rebels fighting to oust him are Sunni Muslims.

Earlier on Wednesday four people, among them two children, were killed "in an air strike" on the village of Latamneh, the group added.

More than 115,000 people have been killed in Syria's brutal war, and millions more forced to flee their homes