Syrian regime warplanes have unleashed a series of airstrikes on opposition strongholds in the country's north, activists have reported.

The raids were reported to have hit Idlib and Aleppo provinces on Tuesday, with activists describing them as some of the worst since the opposition forces made advances in the region over the past week.

Amateur videos claimed to show an airstrike on Maarat Herma in Idlib province and damaged buildings in Maarat al-Numan in the same province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the pre-dawn air raids around Maaret al-Numan were the "most violent" since opposition forces captured the strategic town last week.

The warplanes targeted the blockade of the highway to second city Aleppo, the theatre of intense fighting for the past three months, it said, adding the opposition forces responded with anti-aircraft fire.

Army shelling of nearby Kafr Nabal killed two children, aged six and 10, said the observatory, adding they were among at least 70 people who died in bloodshed across the country.

Another five children under the age of six died along with two adults in shelling of homes at Mayadeen village in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, added the Britain-based group.

"The army's bombardments are killing the future of Syria," observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency.

PHOTO CAPTION

A young Free Syrian Army fighter crawls under barbed wire as he trains at their camp, in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, close to the Turkish border.

Aljazeera