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At least seven civilians were killed on Monday by a fresh mortar attack on Syrian government-held areas in a town in the central province of Hama, Xinhua reported, citing state TV.

A child was among those killed in the renewed rebel shelling on the town of Naor in the northwestern countryside of Hama, said the report.

The shelling comes amid an escalation in that region.

Overnight, the rebels fired 20 ground-to-ground missiles on the city of Masyaf in the western countryside of Hama, leaving unknown losses.

The situation in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, as well as the nearby countryside of Hama, has been escalating since April when a Russian and Turkish-backed de-escalation zones' deal failed to materialize.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, has been engaged in battles with the Syrian army in Idlib countryside and the adjacent northern countryside of the central province of Hama.