Assad's forces are on the defensive in his family's home province of Latakia and recent rebel gains across northern Syria, including a military air base captured last week in Aleppo province, have further loosened his grip on the country.
Assad controls much of southern and central Syria, while insurgents hold northern areas near the Turkish border and along the Euphrates valley towards Iraq. The northeast corner of the pivotal Arab state is now an increasingly autonomous Kurdish region.
The mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents are battling to overthrow Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, in a civil war which erupted two years ago when mainly peaceful protests against his rule were put down with force.
As many as 20 people were killed in the air strikes on the village of Salma, including 10 civilians, six Syrian fighters and four foreign fighters, the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said on Saturday.
Salma is a Sunni village in the Jabal Akrad mountain range which overlooks the Mediterranean. Rebel forces comprised of mainly Islamist brigades, including two al Qaeda-linked groups and based in Salma, have killed hundreds in offensives this month and have seized several Alawite settlements.
Amateur video footage posted on the Internet showed a large apartment block with all its outside walls blown out. Men, some in military fatigues, were seen loading bodies onto a pickup truck.
ALAWITE REGIONAL STRONGHOLD AT STAKE
Assad has deployed extra forces in the region and the air raids reflected an urgent priority to protect the main region of his Alawite sect - 12 percent of Syria's 21 million people.
The president's forces have also been pushing to retake lost ground in neighbouring Aleppo province, where insurgents have made significant headway over the past few weeks.
After the rebel capture last month of Khan al-Assal, a town southwest of Aleppo city, activists said on Saturday soldiers killed 12 civilians, including a woman, in a nearby town.
The government accuses rebels of executing 123 people in Khan al-Assal and activists say the killing in Tabara al-Sakhani, 12 miles (20 km) to the south, could have been retaliatory.
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