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Fighting has intensified in the province of Idlib, as government forces close in on Syria's last rebel stronghold.

Troops loyal to Syria's president, Bashar al Assad, are fighting an al Qaeda-linked militant group near the village of Midan Ghazal, according to the pro-government Military Media Center.

Assad's forces, backed by Russian air power, control nine villages in the northwestern province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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It comes despite calls from the United Nations Security Council for all sides to respect a ceasefire agreed in September.

Idlib is the centre of the last rebel stronghold and fighting in the area, which resumed at the end of April, has been the worst seen since the ceasefire.

After a private meeting on Friday, 11 of the security council's members, including Britain, France and the US, warned of a possible humanitarian disaster in Idlib.

Belgium's UN ambassador, Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, said on the council's behalf: "We are alarmed by the displacement of over 150,000 persons as well as the targeting of population centres and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools."

As each rebel stronghold has been taken by the Syrian government, they have often been able to gain safe passage to Idlib which has, in turn, become a place for them to regroup.

But as the fighting intensifies, there are fears the province will become more dangerous for the three million civilians who also live there.

Turkey's defence minister, Hulusi Akar, expressed concerns on Friday that the fighting also threatened the security of his country's observation posts.

He said: "We expect Russia to take effective and determined measures to make regime forces stop their attacks on the south of Idlib and immediately return to the borders set by the Astana agreement."

The peace process was launched in the capital of Kazakhstan in January 2017 by Russia and Iran, allies of the Syrian government, and Turkey, which backs the rebels.

It led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" but President Assad's forces have already retaken three of them - Idlib is the last one.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Vershinin, told the TASS news agency on Thursday that the military action in Idlib was aimed at terrorists in the area and was being carried out "in coordination with our Turkish partners".