Syrian government air strikes Tuesday killed at least 12 civilians in two towns in the northwest of the war-torn country Tuesday, a monitoring group said.
"The air force carried out six air strikes against areas of the town of Saraqeb, and another strike targeting... the village of Sheikh Mustafa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Eleven of the dead were killed in Saraqeb.
Both Saraqeb and Sheikh Mustafa are in Idlib province and are under jihadist control. Most of Idlib's countryside is out of government control, but its capital remains in regime hands.
In November, Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front expelled Western-backed rebels from their Idlib positions.
The province's countryside is among the first areas lost by the government in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that began in March 2011.
The conflict began as a peaceful movement that morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes.