(Reuters) - Forces loyal to Syria's president killed at least 175 Islamist rebel fighters, most of them foreigners, in an ambush in insurgent-held eastern outskirts of Damascus, state media said on Wednesday.

The attack was led by the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, which has joined the government in a increasingly sectarian conflict that is pulling in fighters from across the region and destabilizing Syria's neighbors, said activists.

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Syrian state news agency SANA said most of those killed were Saudi, Qatari or Chechen nationals and belonged to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front or Liwa al-Islam, a Salafist Jihadi group that is one of the biggest and best organized rebel units fighting to topple Assad.