Syrian government forces' shelling kills 17 - war monitor

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Shelling by Syrian government forces of rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country has killed 17 civilians over the past 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Thursday.

The government forces' artillery fire targeted several locations and about half of those killed were under 18 years old, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Gareth Jones)