'Fiercest clashes' as Syria regime advances with Russian support

Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes fought their fiercest clashes with rebels in weeks on Monday as Europe's top diplomats demanded that Moscow stop targeting moderate rebels.

 Meeting in Luxembourg, European Union foreign ministers also said lasting peace in Syria was impossible without a transition from President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

 And Iraq said it was trying to confirm reports that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been wounded in an Iraqi strike on his convoy.

 On the ground in Syria, the army command said regime forces had captured the village of Kafr Nabuda in central Hama province, extending their advance in the region around the strategic Damascus-Aleppo highway.

 Regime forces have been pushing an offensive on either side of the highway towards the town of Khan Sheikhun, just over the provincial border in Idlib province.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said clashes were ongoing in Kafr Nabuda, adding that Russian warplanes had carried out at least 20 strikes in and around the village.

 "The clashes are the fiercest since the Russian air campaign began on September 30," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.