Russian air strikes in Syria’s Idlib province reportedly killed thirty four rebel fighters and injured sixty others, as hostilities mount in the country’s last rebel stronghold.

Russian official,Rear Admiral Vadium Kulit said the country’s Aerospace Forces hit illegal armed groups in Idlib that were responsible for an artillery attack on Syrian government positions.

The Syrian army has blamed rebels for attacks on government-held areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, as it denies indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas under rebel control.

However, opposition officials say both Moscow and Damascus are taking advantage of the world’s focus on the war in Gaza to escalate attacks in the densely populated region.

After 12 years of civil war, Idlib is Syria’s last rebel-held territory, with more than three million inhabitants there refusing to live under the authoritarian rule of Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad.