Writer Magnus Falkehed and photographer Niclas Hammarström were abducted as they were leaving Syria in November

Two Swedish journalists who were abducted in Syria in November have been released.

Sweden's foreign ministry confirmed on Wednesday that writer Magnus Falkehed and photographer Niclas Hammarström had been released and were receiving assistance from Swedish diplomats in Beirut.

The two freelance journalists were abducted as they were on their way out of Syria in November.

Swedish authorities would not say who abducted them or how they were set free. But national police spokeswoman Jessica Krasser Fremnell said Swedish police had worked closely with other authorities to secure their release.

Press advocacy groups say Syria has become the most dangerous country in the world for reporters over the past two years, with kidnappings becoming a major threat.

Meanwhile, activists say rebels in Syria have seized control of a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo that was used as a base for the area by their al-Qaida rivals.

The capture of the hospital was a boost for the rebels, who only the day before saw 20 of their fighters killed in an al-Qaida suicide car bombing in the northern city of Darkoush, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It also underscores the intensity of the rebel infighting that has raged for days between Syrian rebels and their one-time allies, fighters from the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Also in Aleppo, the observatory said a series of government air strikes in two rebel-held suburbs late on Tuesday night killed 19 people. There were no further details. The government in Damascus did not comment on the bombings.