BEIRUT: Four children from the same family were among as many as 10 civilians killed in a pre-dawn air strike near the central Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday, activists say.

The raid hit the village of Jabab Hamad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the siblings were aged seven months, 12, 14 and 16.

In the northern province of Aleppo, fierce fighting erupted around the Menagh, Kwiyres and Nayrab airbases, which have been under rebel siege for weeks, the Britain-based activists said.

In the neighbouring province of Idlib, troops bombarded Maaret al-Numan, a strategic town on the Damascus-Aleppo highway that the army has been vying to wrest back from the rebels.

The Observatory also reported shelling across the southern outskirts of Damascus, where the army has been trying to regain control over rebel strongholds.

On Tuesday, at least 58 people were killed in violence nationwide, according to the Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of activists and doctors in civilian and military hospitals.

In all, more than 60,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule erupted in March 2011, according to the latest UN figures.