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Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a Greek Orthodox church in the Syrian city of Hama on Wednesday, entering the compound and attempting to remove the cross before targeting the church's walls, local reports said, as a new mass grave was uncovered near Damascus. 

Nobody was killed or injured in the Hama church incident, which caused minor damage to the building and triggered panic, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said, condemning the attack and calling for accountability. 

The Archdiocese of Hama the police had responded to its complaint and were tracking down the suspects.

"The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Hama confirms that a shooting incident took place. What happened has been immediately followed up by the Hama Police Command and the perpetrators are being tracked down" a statement from the police read. 

There were also unconfirmed reports of a separate attack that allegedly targeted a nearby cemetery. circulating online appeared to show smashed gravestones and statues.

The SNHR said it documented a series of attacks since rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Hama province on 5 December, including destruction of homes and attacks on public and private properties. 

The rights monitor also reported, citing eyewitness accounts, that the Ansar al-Tawhid jihadist group has been involved in many of these violations recorded in Hama, in addition to other groups who have not yet been accurately identified. 

However, since the toppling of former President Bashar al-Assad, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which spearheaded the rebel assault, has reiterated that they will protect Syria's minorities and refrain from sectarianism.

Ansar al-Tawhid is an offshoot of Jund al-Aqsa formed in 2017, and has been linked to al-Qaeda but was dismantled by HTS a few years ago.

Hama is one of Syria’s most religiously and ethnically-diverse provinces, and is home to Sunnis, Shia, Christians and Alawites.

Another mass grave found in Damascus

Elsewhere in Syria, at least 21 bodies have been unearthed in another mass grave in the town of Sayeda Zainab near Damascus, the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said Wednesday.

The remains were found near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in the town, a site revered by Shia Muslims and used by Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi militant groups during the civil war.

"Some (of the remains) are skeletons, others are incomplete, and there are bags of small bones. We cannot yet determine the number of victims," said Ammar al-Salmo, a White Helmets official.

This is the latest in a string of graves found across the country, revealing what an international prosecutor described as a "machinery of death" during a visit to the country this week.

The downfall of the Assad regime has revealed the horrific conditions suffered by detainees held within the regime’s prisons and is exposing the extent of the human rights abuses committed by government forces.

Thousands of Syrians were imprisoned without trial, and often held in squalid conditions and subject to torture.

At least 60,000 people were killed in Syrian detention centres during the war, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.