Rocket attack leaves dozen dead in Syria

The fighting in both places ties into efforts by president Bashar Assad’s military to reverse rebel advances that have left vast stretches of northern Syria in the hands of opposition fighters.

The government is also eager to shore up supply lines to its forces stretched thin by the fight against a relentless rebellion in a conflict that has killed more than 70,000.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets struck the village of Eastern Buwaydah outside Homs, and two children and three women were among those killed.

An amateur video posted online showed at least seven bodies laid out on the floor of a room.

In the north-western province of Idlib, rebels were attacking government troops as anti-Assad fighters tried to check recent regime advances around the military bases of Hamadiya and Wadi Deif.