Beirut, Feb 25 (AFP) Turkish shelling Monday killed nine regime fighters in northwest Syria, where Ankara-backed rebels are fighting off advancing regime forces, a monitor said.

Regimes forces have since December clawed back parts of the last major opposition bastion of Idlib in violence that has displaced almost a million people.

Fighting raged Monday, killing almost 100 fighters on both sides around the jihadist-dominated bastion, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Of those killed in the Turkish shelling, four lost their lives near the town of Nayrab while another five died near the town of Saraqeb, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Late Monday, Turkey-backed rebels managed to wrest back control of Nayrab, the monitor said.

Opposition fighters had already broken back into the town along the M4 highway last week after the regime seized it at the start of the month, but then lost it again several hours later.

The army on February 8 announced they had taken control of Saraqeb, which lies at the intersection of the M4 and another important highway called the M5 to the east. (AFP)

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