Beirut                 -               At least 11 civilians were killed in Russian air raids on northwestern Syria Monday, a monitor said, as Syrian regime forces re-entered a key town days after losing it to rebels. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said regime forces had wrested back full control of Saraqeb. “Regime forces with Russian air cover were able to retake complete control of the town of Saraqeb on the Damascus-Aleppo highway,” it said. Syrian state news agency SANA said the army had re-entered the town after violent clashes with Turkey-backed rebels. Rebel spokesman Naji Mustafa however said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had only taken part of the ghost town long emptied of its inhabitants. “Assad’s forces have launched an assault on Saraqeb and very violent clashes are ongoing inside,” the spokesman for the National Liberation Front said. Pro-government forces battling to seize the country’s final rebel bastion had for the first time in years wrested control of the town on February 8, but jihadists and allied rebels then re-entered on Thursday. The Observatory said clashes around Saraqeb were continuing on Monday evening, pitting regime and allied forces against Turkish-backed rebels, with elite fighters from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadist group deployed nearby. The Russian army said it had deployed units inside Saraqeb to “guarantee the safety and free movement of transport and civilians” on two key highways nearby.