Syria rebels launch new offensive in Alawite heartland
Scores of people have fled from the area, according to reports
Beirut: Syrian rebels launched a major new offensive against forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad in the country’s north-western Alawite heartland on Sunday, claiming to have overrun a string of villages in the mountains overlooking the coastal port of Latakia.
At least 30 rebel fighters and government loyalists were killed in the fighting, in which the rebels used tanks and heavy artillery to advance to within 12 miles of the Al Assad family’s mountain hometown of Qurdaha in the province of Latakia, according to activists and human rights groups. The claims could not be independently verified, but videos posted by rebel groups on YouTube showed tanks firing on mountain villages and rebel groups raising their flags over captured government positions in villages belonging to members of Al Assad’s minority Alawite sect. The Latakia Coordination Committee said scores of Alawites had fled from the countryside into the city.
The push in Latakia comes as the rebels show signs that they are starting to recover from a string of recent setbacks that had triggered concerns among their regional allies that Al Assad’s regime may be poised to crush the 2 1/2-year-old revolt.
Rebel commanders and opposition leaders say the concerns appear to have spurred fresh supplies of weapons to the rebels in recent weeks, though it is unclear who is supplying them.
The scale of the offensive, which appeared to be the biggest yet in the Al Assad family’s heartland, will come as a blow to the recent confidence displayed by the regime, said Charles Lister of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. Jihadist groups, including the Al Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, appear to have taken the lead, with as many as 1,000 fighters, many of them foreigners, from more than 40 rebel units taking part, he said. Tunisians, Libyans, Saudis and Jordanians were among those reported killed in the initial attacks, he added.
Omar Abdul Rahman, an activist living in Latakia, said the streets echoed to the sound of sirens throughout the day as ambulances ferried wounded soldiers from the front lines, contributing to what he called “a hysterical mood” among residents of the mostly pro-government city.
