Syrian opposition fighters killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb and ground attack on a military position in Idlib province on Wednesday (September 12th), as fighting also raged in the country's commercial capital, Aleppo, AFP reported.

"There were 70 to 100 soldiers there when the attack occurred" in the town of Saraqeb, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP. "Twenty soldiers escaped, and clashes are still going on," he added.

Outside Aleppo, fighting erupted at dawn in the Nayrab area, around five kilometres from the city's airport, which remained fully operational, the Observatory said. Four Armenian Syrians were killed and 13 wounded on the road home from the airport after a trip to Yerevan.

Meanwhile, the army shelled a string of neighbourhoods in central Aleppo, including Suleiman al-Halabi, Sheikh Khodr and Qadi Askar, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Helicopter gunships also strafed the district of Bustan al-Basha, a witness said, and the Observatory reported that opposition forces used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a security branch in the adjacent Midan neighbourhood.

Elsewhere, a boy and a girl were killed and dozens of civilians wounded when the army shelled the village of Latamneh in Hama province, said the Observatory.

Also in Hama, the Observatory reported that eight bodies were found in farmlands in Halfaya village, following an assault by government forces. It said the number of dead was expected to rise as many people were reported missing.

In eastern Syria, troops shelled several districts of Deir Ezzor, and an unspecified number of people were killed in air strikes on the town of Albu Kamal, the Observatory said.

On Tuesday, 138 people -- 93 civilians, 19 rebels and 26 soldiers -- were killed nationwide, according to the Observatory. Of these, 13 people died in Aleppo, mostly civilians in Sakhur, Sukari and Bustan al-Qasr.

More than 27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar Assad broke out in March 2011, according to Observatory figures.