syria-BEIRUT: Syrian troops battled rebel fighters near the international airport at Aleppo early on Wednesday, a watchdog said, adding that two children were killed in shelling in the central province of Hama.

The fighting erupted at dawn in the Nayrab area, around five kilometres (three miles) from the northern city's airport, which remained full operational, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Overnight, the army pounded rebel positions across Aleppo, focused on the southern districts of Bustan al-Qasr, Sukari and Kellaseh and the northeast districts of Sakhur, Shaar and Hanano, the Britain-based watchdog added.

Elsewhere in the country, a boy and a girl were killed and dozens of civilians were wounded when the army shelled the rebel village of Latamneh in Hama province, said the Observatory, which gathers its information from a wide network of activists on the ground.

Violence in Syria has been focused in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's economic hub, since mid-July, while rebel fighters have more recently trained their guns on airports across the country used by Syria's military helicopters and fighter jets.

On Tuesday, 138 people -- 93 civilians, 19 rebels and 26 soldiers -- were killed nationwide, according to the Observatory. Of these, 13 people died in Aleppo, mostly civilians in Sakhur, Sukari and Bustan al-Qasr.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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