Russia says its planes, and Syria's, have not flown over Aleppo for 9 days

Russian and Syrian warplanes have not flown closer than 10 kilometres of Syria's Aleppo for nine days, the Russian defence ministry said on Thursday.

Rescue workers and a monitoring group have said air strikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes on Wednesday had killed at least 22 people, mostly children in a village in the rebel-held province of Idlib, which is in northwest Syria near Aleppo. 

Idlib is the main Syrian opposition stronghold, though radical groups also have a large presence there. It has regularly been hit by Syrian and Russian warplanes as well as the US-led coalition targeting Islamic State (ISIS) militants.

Earlier in the day, the northern Aleppo province saw a new escalation as a helicopter believed to belong to Syrian government forces dropped barrel bombs in a deadly attack on Turkey-backed opposition forces in the border area, Turkish officials said.