DAMASCUS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian troops thwarted the infiltration attempt of radical jihadists from neighboring Lebanon, killing many of them, the state-run SANA news agency reported on Saturday.

The Syrian troops backed by the pro-government National Defense Forces confronted an armed rebel group infiltrating from Lebanon's border town of Ersal into Syria's rugged al-Qalamoun region in the northern countryside of the capital Damascus, the report said.

The state television aired video footage, showing plenty of dead and blood-soaked bodies of the killed rebels tossed on the ground in an area of the al-Qalamouns sprawled region.

Meanwhile, the activists' Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 50 rebels were killed while attempting to infiltrate.

The Observatory said the ongoing clashes between the government troops and an array of rebel groups had also resulted in losses among the ranks of the government forces and their allies Hezbollah which has been fighting alongside the government troops against the hard-liner rebel groups.

It added that the Islamic militant groups are advancing in al- Qalamoun region, where they had lost their ground last year as a result of the sweeping military operation by the Syrian troops.