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Syrian government troops backed by Hezbollah began a new offensive around Aleppo Tuesday, seeking to encircle rebels in the northern city and break the siege on two pro-regime villages, The Daily Star reported. 

Anti-regime monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 100 fighters on both sides have been killed.

A Syrian military source said government troops had seized two villages north of Aleppo and were engaged in fierce fighting for control of a third.

The villages are strategically located by a road that serves as a key supply route for the rebels, leading from the east of Aleppo to the Turkish border.

As they launched the attacks, government forces also began shelling two towns on the road to Nubl and Zahraa, both government-held Shiite villages.

Nubl and Zahraa have been under rebel siege for more than 18 months, and pro-government militants inside the villages have repelled several attacks.