At least 21 civilians were killed, including eight children, in Syrian regime and Russian airstrikes on Idlib in northwestern Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as regime forces continued their crackdown on extremists. Raids Sunday left "at least 21 dead, including eight children and 11 members of the same family" west of the town of Sinjar in the southeast of the province, the Observatory said. The regime had on Sunday regained control of the town, which lies 14 km away from the Abou al-Dohour military airport that it has been trying to recapture. Heavy clashes have been ongoing in the Idlib countryside since December 25 between the regime on the one hand and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra Front) and other armed factions on the other. The regime had launched a wide offensive to regain control of the southeastern Idlib countryside and secure a strategic route that connects the city of Aleppo with the capital Damascus. "Regime and Russian strikes are continuing today on several parts of Idlib" province, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory, told AFP. The regime had shifted its attention to Idlib after ending its last major battle against ISIS in Deir al-Zour near the border with Iraq last year.