25 killed in central Syria airstrikes

At least 25 people have been killed in heavy raids that are targeting Syria's central Hama province.

At least 25 civilians, including six children, have been killed in heavy air raids targeting rebel-held areas in Hama province in central Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said unidentified warplanes had carried out more more than 20 airstrikes on a road linking the village of Latamina in rural Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib in north-western Syria.

Thursday's intense bombing comes as rebels, including hardline Islamists, captured a string of regime-held villages and checkpoints in Hama countryside.

The rebels are now about 11km away from Hama, the capital city of the province of the same name, said the Britain-based Observatory that relies on a network of activists inside Syria.

Activists in the area said rebels have seized 14 villages in the countryside of Hama from regime forces since August 29.

"The aim of the rebels' offensive is to control the countryside of Hama," Observatory head, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said.

He told DPA that regime jets and those of allied Russia were intensifying their raids in rebel-held areas in order to slow down rebels' advance.

A Syrian government source said the government had sent hundreds of troops from the coastal Latakia and Tartous areas to Hama after losing ground there to the rebels

Jund al-Aqsa, a hardline jihadist group of Syrian and foreign fighters, is the main force leading the attack on the rebel side in Hama. Moderate rebels are also taking part.