Syrian troops 'kill 13 members of the same family, some of whom were burned alive' The Fatouh family were at their home in Bayda, on the coast, when attacked Six children, four women and three men killed, human rights group says Group blames massacre on pro-Assad National Defense Force militia Thirteen members of the same family, including six children, have been killed by pro-government forces in Syria, a human rights group says. Some of the Fatouh family were burned alive at their home in Bayda, north-west Syria, some reports say, while others suggest they were shot first before the house was set on fire. Three men were shot dead before four women and six children were gathered in one room and killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Fatalities in Baniyas, Syria. Baniyas is a Sunni Muslim pocket in the middle of a large Alawite enclave on Syria's Mediterranean coast Fighters from the Free Syrian Army targets one of the bastions of the regimes forces in Aleppo, Syria Syrian rebels seized a strategic village on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, activists said The family was fasting at the time of the attack at their home near the coastal city of Baniyas, the scene of a previous massacre where more than 140 died in May. The three men, unarmed, were shot dead outside their home. The militiamen then broke in, and killed the women and the children,' the Observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Mr Abdel Rahman said the family was killed by the National Defense Force and that his organisation had heard conflicting reports as to how the women and children died. Columns of smoke billowing as a result of heavy bombing, in the countryside outside of Aleppo Syria Heavy bombing in Damascus has led to countless fatalities. Britain has sent help to the Free Syrian Army, including communications equipment, but has not taken a decision on sending weapons The UK-based Observatory relies activists on the ground in Syria for news. Mr Abdel Rahman said the slaughter was a revenge attack for the deaths of four Alawite members of the NDF. Tensions between members of the Alawite faith, who count President Bashar Al-Assad among their number, and Sunni Muslims are long held. Baniyas is a Sunni Muslim pocket in the middle of a large Alawite enclave on Syria's Mediterranean coast, and activists in the area accuse militias loyal to Assad of ethnic cleansing. The Baniyas area is home to a mixture of Sunnis and Alawites. On Saturday, four Alawite members of the National Defense Force were killed in fighting there,' he told AFP. The pro-regime militiamen took revenge for their deaths by killing this family. The news of the massacre comes as the Prime Minister told the BBC that opposition efforts to overthrow Assad, supported by Britain, were at a 'stalemate'. Elsewhere, bodies of rebel fighters were pictured after an ambush yesterday by President Assad's forces in Adra, near Damascus. The picture was issued by the state-run news agency Sana Thirteen members of the Fatouh family were killed at their house in Bayda, near the coastal city Baniyas, according to a human rights group David Cameron told the Andrew Marr Show that Syria, which plunged into civil war more than two years ago, was "on a depressing trajectory" and President Bashar Al Assad is "stronger than he was a few months ago." The slaughter of the family was said to be revenge for the deaths of four members of the National Defense Force, which supports President Bashar Al Assad In May, about 140 people died over two days of sectarian massacres by pro-Assad militias in Bayda and Baniyas. Meanwhile, in and around Damascus, government troops killed at least 75 rebels over 24 hours, the Observatory said. It was one of the deadliest single-day tolls for opposition fighters in recent months. The death toll included 49 rebels killed in an ambush in Damascus' northeastern suburb of Adra early Sunday. An elite Republican Guard unit attacked the rebels as they were trying to push into the capital, and that the government commander leading the operation also died in the ensuing gunbattle, the Observatory said. The Syrian state news agency SANA also reported the ambush, without giving a casualty figure. Damascus and its suburbs have been a key battlefield for over a year, with rebels trying to push into its center from strongholds in the suburbs. Some of President Bashar Assad's most reliable units, including the Republican Guard and the 4th Division commanded by his younger brother Maher, are charged with its defense and have been trying to flush out rebels from the enclaves. The Observatory reported that another 17 rebels died in fighting Sunday in clashes in Damascus neighborhoods of Qaboun and Jobar, while another nine were killed in clashes that have raged in the suburbs of Daraya, Harasta and Douma. Syrian rebels seized a strategic village on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo today, the Observatory said, just hours after other opposition fighters sustained some of their heaviest losses in months. The capture of Khan al-Assal is a rare bright spot in recent months for Syria's rebels, who have been battered by government forces on several fronts since June. The Observatory says opposition fighters took full control of Khan al-Assal on the western outskirts of Aleppo today. Clashes were ongoing near the village, including inside Aleppo, and several rebel-held districts were hit by airstrikes, according to the Observatory, an anti-regime activists group that relies on reports from activists on the ground. Britain is supporting the Free Syrian Army, with one of the force's fighters seen inside a burned-out house in Deir al-Zor yesterday Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been a major front in the nation's 2-year-old conflict. Rebels seized control of much of the city, and swaths of the surrounding territory, during an offensive one year ago. Khan al-Assal has been a major front in the fight for the city. In March, chemical weapons were allegedly used in the village, killing more 31 people. The Syrian government and the rebels blame each other for the attack, and both have demanded an international investigation. More than 93,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, which started in largely peaceful protests against Assad but turned into a civil war. It has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone, pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against a regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam. Assad's troops have in recent weeks seized the momentum in the conflict, attacking rebels in Damascus and also in the north.