Apparent Russian air strikes killed at least 11 civilians on Sunday in two towns in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a monitoring group said.

Nine people, including a child, were killed in strikes on areas in the town of Maaret al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Another two women were killed in Saraqib in the same province, the Britain-based monitor said.

It said both sets of raids were believed to have been carried out by Russian planes participating in an aerial campaign Moscow launched in Syria on September 30.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources on the ground and determines whether strikes were carried out by Syrian, Russian or US-led coalition aircraft based on the location of the raids and the types of planes involved.

Idlib province fell from government control earlier this year and is held largely by the Army of Conquest rebel alliance that includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

The alliance has been targeted by Russian aircraft and Syrian ground troops just across the provincial border in neighbouring Hama province.

Elsewhere Sunday, at least 10 people were killed in Syrian government air strikes on a town held by the Islamic State group in northern Aleppo province.

A woman and child were among the dead in the strikes on Al-Bab, which has been held by IS since early 2014, the Observatory said.

Another four people, including a child, were killed in rebel fire on the government-held area of Aleppo city, the monitor said.

Aleppo city was once Syria's economic hub, but it has been ravaged by war and divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after fighting there began in mid-2012.

Government planes regularly bombard the eastern part of the city and rebels fire rockets into the west.

South of the city, meanwhile, government troops backed by Russian air strikes seized several villages from rebel forces, state news agency SANA said.

It reported the army had taken three villages south of Aleppo, with the Observatory confirming the advance.

Syrian government troops have launched several ground offensives against rebel forces since Russia began its bombing campaign.

So far, the offensives have registered only modest advances, though the Russian strikes have reportedly boosted morale among government troops.

Suspected Russian strikes kill 23 Syria civilians: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Nov 7, 2015 - At least 23 Syrian civilians were killed Saturday in suspected Russian air strikes on a rebel-held town outside Damascus, a monitor said.

Elsewhere, the Islamic State group freed 37 Syrian Christians who were among more than 200 people kidnapped in February, an NGO said.

The strikes on the rebel district of Douma hit the centre of the town where markets are regularly held, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

They appeared to have been carried out by Russian planes participating in an aerial campaign that began on September 30, the Britain-based group said.

Rebels in Douma, which lies in the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, regularly fire rockets into the capital and the area is frequently the target of government air strikes and shelling.

The Observatory said at least six children and seven women were among the dead and that the toll could rise further because of the number of people seriously wounded.

An AFP journalist saw rescue workers trying to put out fires and several vegetable carts that had spilled onto the streets, their wares mixed with the rubble from damaged buildings.

In a field clinic, a child lay on a bed, a tube taped into the side of his bare and bloodied ribcage as medical workers tried to assess him.

Nearby, a man with a chunk of flesh gouged out of his left leg moaned and held his head as doctors worked on him.

Last month, at least 70 people were killed in a single day of bombing on the town, according to Doctors Without Borders.

And in August, 117 people were killed there in one day of air raids, causing a global outcry.

- Elderly Christian hostages freed -

Meanwhile, the Islamic State group freed a group of Assyrian Christians who had been taken hostage in northeastern Syria, an NGO said.

The group consisted of 27 women and 10 men, most of them elderly, the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights.

They arrived Saturday morning in the town of Tal Tamr in the Khabur region of Hasakeh province in northeastern Syria, the group said.

The releases were confirmed by the Observatory, which said most of those freed were from other towns in Khabur.

The former hostages were among a group of 220 Assyrians captured by IS when they overran parts of the region in February.

Since then, a trickle of prisoners has been released, with between 140 and 150 believed to be still held by IS.

The Assyrian Monitor said the releases were the result of negotiations carried out by the church, but other reports suggest IS has been paid to free the hostages.

Assyrians numbered about 30,000 among Syria's 1.2 million Christians before the country's conflict began. They lived mostly in 35 villages in Hasakeh.

In February, IS overran many of the villages, but Kurdish forces later expelled them.

Also Saturday, the Observatory said the toll in Thursday air strikes on the town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq had risen to 71 people, at least 53 of them civilians.

The other 18 people killed were too badly burned to be initially identified, the group said.

Russia, Syria's government and a US-led coalition are all carrying out bombing in Syria, sometimes in the same areas.

Rebels roll back Syria army gains: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Nov 6, 2015 - Rebels wrested back a flashpoint town in central Syria on Friday, reversing the last of the gains the army had made in a month-old offensive in Hama province, a monitoring group said.

The Islamist rebels overran Atshan and surrounding areas in the morning and, despite Russian air support, the army was unable to push them back, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russian air support had been key to the army's gains in the offensive it launched in Hama province on October 7.

It captured Atshan on October 10, but withdrew from it and nearby towns, including Umm al-Haratayn, on Friday.

"Regime forces lost control of the last remaining towns it had seized since the beginning of its ground operations in the northern parts of Hama province," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Sixteen government loyalists and seven rebels were killed in the fighting.

The setback comes a day after the army lost the towns of Morek and Tal Skeik to jihadists and other rebels.

The loss of Morek cost the army the last town under its control along the main highway north from Hama to second city Aleppo.

Morek has changed hands several times in Syria's four-year civil war. Government troops last retook it in October 2014.

The army still controls swathes of territory south of the town.

Elsewhere, 27 civilians and 15 Islamic State group fighters were killed in Russian air strikes on Tuesday on the city of Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital in Syria, the Observatory said, updating an earlier toll.

UN Syria envoy to meet Security Council next week
United Nations, United States (AFP) Nov 6, 2015 - The UN envoy for Syria will go before the Security Council next week to report on the way forward after holding talks in Damascus, Moscow and Washington, diplomats said Thursday.

Staffan de Mistura is making the rounds ahead of another meeting in Vienna of key players with influence in Syria, including the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

De Mistura will brief the 15-member council on Tuesday.

The UN envoy said in Moscow this week that the United Nations was ready to bring together the Syrian government and opposition for talks in Geneva.

All players however need to agree on the list of opposition members and government representatives who will be allowed to take part.

At the first meeting in Vienna last week, the participants agreed to ask the UN to broker a deal to pave the way for a new constitution and elections.

The Vienna talks mark the most significant international effort to date to end the four-year war. It has left 250,000 people dead and triggered Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.