At least ten people were killed Wednesday in an Assad regime artillery shelling in the northwestern Syria's Latakia province, according to a local source.

The shelling targeted opposition-held areas in the Turkmen Mountain (Jabal al-Turkman) region, the source said on condition of anonymity due to safety fears.

Three people were also injured in the attack, the source added.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests, which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Since then, more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 11 million have been displaced, 6.3 million internally and 5.1 million externally, across the war-battered country, according to the U.N.