Syrian forces battle rebels near Turkey border crossing

[rss]

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/0ZEaEWYydE9vd6qZlNGQFA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-03-24T163101Z_1_CBREA2N19VX00_RTROPTP_2_CNEWS-US-SYRIA-CRISIS.JPG (http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-battle-rebels-near-turkey-border-crossing-163101426.html)Syrian troops backed by war planes battled on Monday to dislodge Islamist rebels from a border crossing and **rthern town in the coastal province of Latakia, heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite mi**rity. Fighters from the Islamic Front and al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front seized the Armenian Christian town of Kasab on Sunday after taking the nearby border crossing in an offensive which follows a string of recent rebel defeats further south. Video footage released by activists showed fighters driving through the largely deserted Kasab, passing a municipal building and a shattered statue of Bashar's father Hafez, who ruled Syria for 30 years until 2000. While the rebel advance has gained only a small pocket of territory, it has put Assad on the defensive and deprived him - at least for **w - of the last border crossing from Turkey into government-held territory.




أكثر... (http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-battle-rebels-near-turkey-border-crossing-163101426.html)