Beirut — Air strikes by regime and Russian aircraft on rebel positions in the northwestern province of Idlib killed at least 21 civilians, including eight children, a monitor said Monday. The strikes carried out on Sunday were the latest against fighters and rebels in a week-old regime offensive on Idlib, the last province in Syria to escape government control. The raid left at least 21 dead, including eight children and 11 members of the same family west of the town of Sinjar in the southeast of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Regime and Russian strikes are continuing today on several parts of Idlib province, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring organization, told AFP. Meanwhile, Syrian monitoring group and paramedics in the northwestern city of Idlib say the death toll from a massive car bombing there the previous evening has risen to at least 25. Also, nearly 100 people were wounded. The first-responders Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets says four children and 11 women were among the 25 killed. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday gave a higher death toll, saying 34 people were killed, including 18 civilians. The Sunday night bombing targeted the office of Ajnad Al-Koukaz, a group consisting of foreign fighters mostly from the Caucuses and Russia, according to activists. Syria's army has broken the siege of an army base encircled by opposition forces on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, state television and a war monitor reported on Sunday. Last Sunday, rebels, mainly belonging to the Islamist Ahrar Al-Sham faction, widened their control of parts of the Military Vehicles Administration base in the Eastern Ghouta town of Harasta. Army elite forces, backed by Russian jets, launched an offensive to break the siege and liberate at least 200 troops who were believed to be trapped within its sprawling, heavily defended grounds. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Syrian forces had opened a loophole that led them into the base. Extensive bombing and violent clashes were taking place inside and around the base late at night, while the army fought its way to recapture the compound's buildings, the state TV reporter said during a live broadcast from a nearby location. Fighting is underway to expand the route that was opened into the base ... and the army will press on with its offensive beyond liberating the base, he added, expecting the battle for the base to end in the coming few hours. — Agencies