Syria: Regime kills 25 civilians in Hama airstrikes

At least 25 civilians have been killed by government airstrikes in Syria's central province of Hama, as government forces responded to a major rebel offensive in the area.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights [SOHR], the deaths occurred during overnight raids on a road near the town of Latamina.

Syrian state media claimed that government forces had killed 50 "terrorists" in "concentrated strikes" in the area.

Hama's recent upsurge in violence follows the launch of a major offensive by the Western-backed Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups including Jaish al-Fatah and Jund al-Aqsa, to push regime forces out of the central province.

SOHR also reported more rebel gains were made in Hama, where the rebels have seized control of 14 villages in four days. The gains are predominantly to the north of Hama province, including the towns of Suran and Halfaya.

"They are about 10 kilometres from the [Hama] airport" said SOHR's director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Hama city was briefly in rebel hands at the start of Syria's revolution but was subject to a siege by the regime who later recaptured the city.

The city was also the centre of an Islamist uprising in 1982, which was brutally supressed by the Syrian army with as many as 40,000 people - mostly civilians - dying in the bombardment.