Syrian forces kill 100 rebels in coastal Latakia city

At least 100 rebels were killed during a Syrian military offensive in the coastal city of Latakia, the state news agency SANA reported Saturday.

The military forces carried out a "qualitative" operation in the town of Shalf in the northern countryside of Latakia, killing 100 rebels, most of whom were foreign militants, said SANA.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor group tracking the Syrian war, said the rebel groups fired mortar shells on positions of the Syrian army in the vicinity of Yunus Peak area in northern Latakia amid clashes in the nearby Observatory-45 base.

Battles in the northern countryside of Latakia have been incessant since the rebels in the northwestern province of Idlib captured many areas adjacent to Latakia, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad and the heartland of this Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Source: XINHUA