Syrian government forces bombed a strategic rebel town in the country's north for the third straight day, pounding it with airstrikes that killed at least five people, activists said.
President Bashar Assad's troops in recent weeks have seized the momentum in the civil war, now in its third year. Regime forces have been on the offensive against rebels on several fronts, including in the northern Idlib province along the border with Turkey.
In Idlib, government forces this week besieged the town of Saraqeb, hitting it with rockets, tank fire and air raids, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Today, the Observatory said military aircraft dropped at least 15 makeshift bombs, known as barrel bombs, on the town. The bombs are made of hundreds of pounds of explosives stuffed into barrels.
Meanwhile, airstrikes by fighter jets killed at least five people, including three children, said the Observatory, which relies on reports from a network of activists on the ground.
The number of casualties was likely to rise because many of the people have been buried in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the shelling, the group said.
Assad's troops are in firm control of the provincial capital, also called Idlib, while dozens of rebel brigades control the surrounding countryside. Clashes between the warring sides have been fierce as Assad's troops try to push opposition fighters further away from the city.
With a population of 40,000 people, Saraqeb is Idlib's second-largest urban centre. It has been under the opposition's control for more than a year and it is strategically important for both sides because of its location along the road that links Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with the capital, Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.
The town also connects Aleppo, the country's commercial hub that has been carved up between government- and rebel-held areas for the past year, with the coastal city of Latakia. That city is a stronghold of Syria's ruling Alawite sect, which includes the president's family.
Opposition fighters have been using the road to ferry their own supplies and have been launching guerrilla attacks on army convoys travelling between military bases in Idlib province and Aleppo.
Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said the army's latest offensive on Saraqeb could be a push to set the stage for an eventual offensive on Aleppo. But the rebels have kept their ground at least nine miles from Saraqeb, forcing the regime to rely on its air power.
Syria's state news agency said the army fought "terrorists" around Idlib province, destroying their hideouts and makeshift weapons factories in several villages and towns near the provincial capital, including in Saraqeb. Several fighters belonging to the radical Islamic group Jabhat al-Nusra were killed in the fighting, the report said.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said the new military-backed interim government will reevaluate its policy toward Syria following the removal of President Mohammed Morsi. His Islamist-dominated government cut diplomatic relations with Syria and supported Assad's opponents, offering Syrians, seeking refuge in Egypt favourable conditions.
The Observatory said more than 60 opposition fighters were killed in violence that has raged in the northeastern province of Hassakeh this week. While there were no reports of clashes between the pro-government Kurdish fighters and al Qaida-linked rebels today, the Observatory said more than 60 fighters have killed on both sides since the violence began on Tuesday.
The Kurdish forces, which back Assad, have fought rebels from radical Islamic groups in the northern region for months now.
More than 93,000 people have been killed since the Syria crisis started in March 2011, according to the United Nations, as largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. It escalated into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.