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Fighting has raged in Syria's town of Qusair after government troops launched a major operation to seize the strategic rebel stronghold, BBC reported.

State media said the army "restored security and stability" to most of the town - a claim denied by activists.

Lebanese militants are said to be involved - Hezbollah siding with the army, Sunni gunmen with the rebels.

More than 50 people have reportedly been killed. The fighting has also spilled into Lebanon.

Several mortar rounds fired from Syria struck Lebanon's north-eastern town of Hermel, Lebanon's National News Agency said, but no casualties or major damage were reported.

It said that in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, at least five people were injured in clashes between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel backers.

In a separate development, the UK-based Oxfam aid agency warned that Jordan and Lebanon were in urgent need of help to support hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who had fled the fighting.

Oxfam said a combination of rising summer temperatures and poor sanitation posed increased health risks for the refugees. More than 100 cases of a condition known as "Aleppo boil" had been diagnosed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, caused by a parasite, it added.