Cairo, April 27 (IANS): At least 53 people were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian air force after a coalition of Syrian Islamist rebel fighters took control of the al-Qarmid military camp, one of the most important regime strongholds in the northern province of Idlib.

Among the fatalities were eight women and nine children, Efe news agency reported citing figures released on Monday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The offensive on al-Qarmid was carried out late Sunday by a Fateh Army militia coalition, bringing together Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Nusra Front, radical group Jund al-Aqsa, the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement, and the Army of the Sunna.

Two suicide bombers triggered their explosives-laden vehicles around the camp, killing 15 regime soldiers, the SOHR reported.

Fighters under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began their attack on Sunday directed against certain parts of the town of Darkush and the suburbs of Kafr Aweed and Saraqeb, all in Idlib.