BEIRUT — Syrian government troops pounded rebel-held villages around the northern city of Idlib with rockets, artillery and airstrikes, killing at least 29 people including six children, activists said Monday.
Having seized the momentum in recent months in Syria's civil war, President Bashar Assad's forces are on the offensive against the rebels on several fronts, including in Idlib province along the northern border with Turkey. Government forces are in firm control of the provincial capital, which goes by the same name, while dozens of rebel brigades control the countryside.
The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling overnight targeted five villages near Idlib city. Eight women and six children were among the 29 people killed, according to the Observatory.
The group, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said the deadliest attack took place in the village of Maghra, where a rocket slammed into a row of houses, killing 13 people. Three nearby villages — Bara, Basamis and Kafr Nabl — were hit by artillery shells that killed another 13 people. Three others died in an airstrike on the village Iblin, the Observatory said.
