Scores of Syrians have crossed into Lebanon from the Syrian border village of Ariedha.

Security officials said that at least 170 people entered Lebanon in the early hours of the day.

They added that a two-year-old girl who suffered a shrapnel wound in her chest was undergoing treatment in a Lebanese hospital.

Residents from the nearby Syrian border town of Talkalakh have also fled to Lebanon in the past few days.

They told the Associated Press of a "catastrophic" scene back home with sectarian killings, gunmen carrying out execution-style slayings and the stench of decomposing bodies in the streets.

At least 16 people - eight of them members of the same family - have been killed in recent days in Talkalakh, a town of about 70-thousand residents, witnesses and activists say.