Syrian regime strikes kill at least 4, including woman and her child

Air strikes by the Syrian regime targeted the country's last major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday, killing at least four people, including a woman and her child, opposition activists said.

The attacks come as the regime forces turn their focus on another rebel-held town in Idlib, Maarat al Numan, following gains they made last week.

The troops have been on the offensive since April 30, and have also captured all rebel-held areas in the adjoining Hama province, as well as the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib. From the town, they are now pushing north.

The opposition's Syrian Civil Defence rescue group, also known as White Helmets, said the air strikes and artillery shelling targeted the village of Basqala and nearby places.

Three people died in Basqala and the fourth, a man, in another village close by, Maarat Harmeh.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher toll, saying the air strikes killed six people in Idlib, including three in the village of Basqala on the southern edge of the province. 

Among the three killed in Basqala were a woman and her child, it said. The differences between the Observatory's death toll and that of the White Helmets could not immediately be reconciled.

State news agency SANA said troops are pounding insurgents' positions in the town of Maarat al Numan and several nearby villages. It said insurgent fired rockets in regime-held villages inflicting casualties among the civilian population.

Maarat al Numan, like Khan Shaykhun sits on the highway linking Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Regime forces are trying to eventually open that highway.

The months of fighting have also displaced more than half a million toward northern parts of Idlib, already home to some 3 million people.