Air strikes kill 11 in Syria's Idlib

 At least 11 civilians, including three children, were killed in air strikes on a rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Wednesday, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said it was unclear if the strikes on the town of Ariha in Idlib province were carried out by Syrian government or Russian war planes.

The town is controlled by the Army of Conquest, a rebel alliance of mainly Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front that holds almost all of Idlib province.

Video uploaded by activists purportedly showed the aftermath of the strikes, with residents and civil defence workers picking though debris looking for survivors.

Idlib has regularly been targeted by both Syrian government air strikes and raids carried out by its Russian ally.

A longtime backer of the government in Damascus, Moscow stepped up its support for President Bashar al-Assad on September 30, when it began an air campaign aimed at bolstering regime positions.

Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory said at least eight people were killed on Wednesday in the town of Rastan in central Homs province.

Five of them died in air strikes on the town's market place, which also wounded dozens of people. Another three were killed in shelling earlier Wednesday.

Source: AFP