DAMASCUS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- At least three children were killed on Sunday by rebels' shelling on a town in Hama Province in central Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

The rebels fired at the town of Sqailbiyeh in the northern countryside of Hama, said SANA, adding that the latest shelling targeted government-controlled areas in Hama amid ongoing showdown.

Meanwhile, SANA said that the army is responding to the attacks of the rebels in the southwestern countryside of Idlib Province near the northern countryside of Hama.

It added that the army has inflicted hefty losses to the rebels of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in that area.

A day earlier, Syrian army said the army entered the administrative border of Idlib, according to local media reports.

Idlib is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria and is now controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

Areas in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo are included in the de-escalation zones deal which was reached between Russia and Turkey in September 2018.

The deal failed to materialize as the HTS expanded in Idlib and started attacks on Syrian military positions instead of withdrawing from the designated zone which combines Idlib with Hama and Aleppo countryside. Enditem