BEIRUT — At least 11 civilians were killed and a school day violently interrupted amid intensive Syrian government shelling of a rebel-held enclave north of the capital Damascus on Sunday, sending panicked kindergarteners scurrying for shelter, opposition activists reported.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Eastern Ghouta Media Center said those killed in the Saqba and Hamouriyah districts include two women, one child, and a media activist. The Ghouta Media center said the media activist worked for the local al-Jisr TV.

In a video posted by the Media Center, kindergarten children were seen running in the streets of Kfar Batna, another village in the area that was shelled.

Panicked children were scattered in the small rural streets of the village, some in tears while others called out for their parents. Rescuers struggled to escort them out of the area.

The first-responders group in the Damascus suburbs, the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, reported that two shells fell in a school in the center of the village, injuring several.

Baraa Abdurrahman, a resident of Kfar Batna, said the shells fell in a street that has a couple of schools. He added that six were injured.

Eastern Ghouta, north of Damascus, is part of a de-escalation zone declared earlier this year. But violence amid a tight government siege has persisted in the area, which has faced intense government shelling for four years.

Images of starving children and adults emerged from the Ghouta suburbs, one of the hubs of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule, prompting United Nations officials to say the area is facing a humanitarian crisis.

Associated Press