AP, Beirut

• The bombardments hit three villages in Idlib province, Syria’s last major rebel stronghold
• Increased strikes targeting Idlib province in recent weeks seem to indicate that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces are preparing for a ground offensive

Airstrikes and artillery shelling killed at least 11 civilians — including six members of the same family — amid intensified violence in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria, opposition activists said Tuesday.

The bombardments hit three villages in Idlib province, Syria’s last major rebel stronghold.

Increased strikes targeting Idlib province in recent weeks seem to indicate that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces are preparing for a ground offensive.

The objective appears to be reopening the main highway linking the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest. Before the war began in 2011, Aleppo was the country’s commercial center.

Idlib province is dominated by Al-Qaeda linked militants. Six members of the same family were killed Tuesday in shelling of the village of Bdama while four others died in an airstrike in the village of Maasaran, both in Idlib province, according to Idlib-based activist Hadi Abdullah and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory and Abdullah said another civilian was killed in an attack by helicopter gunships on the village of Talmanas.

In August, after weeks of intense fighting, Syrian troops captured the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.

Just north of Khan Sheikhoun is another major town that’s still in rebel hands, Maaret Al-Numan.

The strategic M5 highway passes through Khan Sheikhoun but remains cut in Maaret Al-Numan. The route has been closed by the rebels since 2012.

Thousands of Maaret Al-Numan’s residents have fled in recent days amid intense airstrikes and shelling.

Syrian troops launched a four-month offensive earlier this year against Idlib, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

A fragile cease-fire halted that advance at the end of August, but in recent weeks it has repeatedly been violated.