Warplanes strike Syria's opposition-held Idlib region

Air strikes hit parts of the Idlib region in northwest Syria, the country's last major opposition stronghold, a war monitoring group and a rescue service said on Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from Damascus or Moscow. Both say they target only militants.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes, which it believed were Russian, struck the southern countryside of Idlib and a village in nearby Hama province.

The Civil Defence, an emergency service that operates in opposition territory, said air strikes damaged its centre in the village of al-Tamanaa in Idlib.

France's top military official said his forces were prepared to strike Syrian government targets if chemical weapons were used in an expected army offensive to retake Idlib.