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The Latest: At least 21 killed in Idlib province airstrikes

Associated Press
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Syrian children displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo pose for a picture in the village of Jibreen south of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. Aid agencies say that more than 30,000 people have fled rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo that have been under tight siege since July. Over the past two weeks, government forces launched an offensive in which they regained control of nearly half areas that had been held by insurgents in their deepest push since the city became contested in July 2012.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (The Associated Press)

Syrian children displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo play in the village of Jibreen south of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. Aid agencies say that more than 30,000 people have fled rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo that have been under tight siege since July. Over the past two weeks, government forces launched an offensive in which they regained control of nearly half areas that had been held by insurgents in their deepest push since the city became contested in July 2012.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (The Associated Press)

Syrian children displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo pose for a picture in the village of Jibreen south of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. Aid agencies say that more than 30,000 people have fled rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo that have been under tight siege since July. Over the past two weeks, government forces launched an offensive in which they regained control of nearly half areas that had been held by insurgents in their deepest push since the city became contested in July 2012.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (The Associated Press)

The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Syrian activists say at least 3 children and 18 others have been killed in a series of air strikes on the opposition-controlled town of Kafranbel in northwestern Syria.

The activist-run Kafranbel Media Center published a list of 22 dead from the presumed Russian or Syrian government airstrikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group was able to confirm 21 dead, among them members of the local police force. It said the airstrikes hit the town's main marketplace.

Russia's military announced last month it was resuming its airstrikes on the northwestern Idlib province and central Homs province in support of the government's efforts to suppress a years-long uprising against its national authority. Kafranbel is not on any front lines of the raging war.

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12 p.m.

Syria's army says it is offering rebel fighters in besieged eastern Aleppo an opportunity to leave the city with their lives.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Samir Suleiman said those who choose to stay will face "inevitable death."

He spoke to The Associated Press in Aleppo, where government forces and allied militias are seeking to collapse an opposition pocket on the city's eastern side.

"We will continue fighting until we restore stability and security to all neighborhoods" of Aleppo, Suleiman said.

He said the Syrian army has retaken more than 50 percent of neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo.

He also said that efforts to retake Aleppo's historic quarters known as Old Aleppo will be the most difficult, adding that the army will use infantry and special forces.