At least 10 civilians and 35 combatants, mostly pro-government forces, were killed Saturday in clashes and air strikes that erupted at dawn in northwestern Syria, according to a war monitor.

The flare-up came as Russian-backed government forces tried to retake two villages seized by jihadists and allied rebels earlier this month, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Since this morning, the Syrian regime and allied fighters have launched five failed attempts to regain control of Jibine and Tal Maleh in northwestern Hama province," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Syrian government air strikes killed nine jihadists and rebel fighters.

Ensuing clashes in the north of Hama province left 26 pro-government forces dead, including eight who were killed in a mine explosion, said the Observatory.

In neighboring Idlib, government air strikes killed 10 civilians, including three children.

The strikes hit the towns of Maaret al-Numan and Al-Bara as well as the village of Al-Ftira, added the Observatory.

The Idlib region of some three million people is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive by a buffer zone deal that Russia and Turkey signed in September.

But it was never fully implemented, as jihadists refused to withdraw from a planned demilitarized zone.

In January, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate extended its administrative control over the region, which includes most of Idlib province as well as adjacent slivers of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces.

The Syrian government and Russia have upped their bombardment of the region since late April, killing nearly 400 civilians, said the Observatory.

Turkey said Friday that it did not accept Russia's "excuse" that it had no ability to stop the Syrian government's continued bombardments in the last rebel bastion of Idlib.

"In Syria, who are the regime's guarantors? Russia and Iran," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a televised interview.

"Thus we do not accept the excuse that 'We cannot make the regime listen to us'," added the minister.

His comments came as Turkey disagreed with Russia earlier this week after Moscow claimed a new ceasefire had been secured in the province following weeks of government bombardments, a claim that was denied by Ankara.

Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests.

Russia launched a military intervention in support of the government in 2015, helping its forces reclaim large parts of the country from opposition fighters and jihadists.