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Syria recaptures border crossing
Sunday 15 June 2014
Women react at a damaged site in what activists said was caused by a
suicide bomber in the middle of a market last night in Tirbespiye
village, east Qamishli, June 15, 2014. Activists claim that 14 people
died due to the explosion, seven of them are Arab and the other seven
are Kurds, while 25 were injured. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed
Government forces flushed opposition fighters from their last redoubts
in north western Syria near the Turkish frontier today, capturing two
villages and restoring government control over the border crossing,
activists and state media said.
The military's advances fully reversed the gains rebels had made
during their three-month campaign in Latakia province, the rugged
coastal region that is the ancestral heartland of President Bashar
Assad.
The counter-offensive's success is the latest blow to the rebels, who
have suffered a string of bitter recent setbacks in Syria's more than
three-year-old civil war.
Islamic rebel factions launched their surprise assault in Latakia in
March, pushing south from the Turkish border to seize a string of
villages in the lush, mountainous terrain. The military, nervous about
an incursion in a bastion of government support, dispatched
reinforcements to blunt the rebel advance and eventually turn the
tide.
Today, after months of bloody clashes, army troops backed by fighters
from the Lebanese Shiite military group Hezbollah seized the seaside
hamlet of Samra before also taking the village of Kassab and its
adjacent border crossing, said Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said there were minor clashes still taking place west of Kassab, a
predominantly Armenian village whose residents fled after the rebels
seized control.
The Syrian army command issued a statement saying that it "restored
security and stability to Kassab". It also said the operation "smashes
the illusions" of the rebels securing a sea port in Samra or a buffer
zone along the border to use as "a base for launching terrorist acts
against the Syrian people".
Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which has a reporter embedded with
Syrian troops, broadcast live footage from Kassab that showed a
blown-out stone building with a smouldering wooden staircase. Soldiers
in camouflage uniforms milled in the streets, and the rocky hills
typical of the area could be seen in the background.
Engineering units were clearing mines and dismantling booby traps in
Kassab, Syria's pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
The government made dislodging rebels from Latakia a priority for
strategic as well as symbolic areas. The coastal province is a
stronghold of the Alawite minority to which Mr Assad belongs, which is
an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and losing control of even a portion of
it was an embarrassment to the government.
Also today, the state news agency said that some 230 prisoners were
freed under a general amnesty declared by Mr Assad following his
re-election in Syria's June 3 vote. Sana said the prisoners were
released from lock-ups in the central cities of Homs and Hama, as well
as the north eastern province of Hassakeh.
The Observatory confirmed that detainees were released today, although
it could not provide exact numbers. The group said that more than
1,500 people - a mix of anti-government activists and common criminals
- have been freed under the presidential amnesty since it was
announced on June 9.
International rights groups say there are tens of thousands of
anti-government activists, protesters, opposition supporters
imprisoned in the country. It is not clear how many of them will be
covered by the pardon.
- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/syria-recaptures-border-crossing-30355995.html#sthash.m2vC9FVe.dpuf
Sunday 15 June 2014
Women react at a damaged site in what activists said was caused by a
suicide bomber in the middle of a market last night in Tirbespiye
village, east Qamishli, June 15, 2014. Activists claim that 14 people
died due to the explosion, seven of them are Arab and the other seven
are Kurds, while 25 were injured. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed
Government forces flushed opposition fighters from their last redoubts
in north western Syria near the Turkish frontier today, capturing two
villages and restoring government control over the border crossing,
activists and state media said.
The military's advances fully reversed the gains rebels had made
during their three-month campaign in Latakia province, the rugged
coastal region that is the ancestral heartland of President Bashar
Assad.
The counter-offensive's success is the latest blow to the rebels, who
have suffered a string of bitter recent setbacks in Syria's more than
three-year-old civil war.
Islamic rebel factions launched their surprise assault in Latakia in
March, pushing south from the Turkish border to seize a string of
villages in the lush, mountainous terrain. The military, nervous about
an incursion in a bastion of government support, dispatched
reinforcements to blunt the rebel advance and eventually turn the
tide.
Today, after months of bloody clashes, army troops backed by fighters
from the Lebanese Shiite military group Hezbollah seized the seaside
hamlet of Samra before also taking the village of Kassab and its
adjacent border crossing, said Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said there were minor clashes still taking place west of Kassab, a
predominantly Armenian village whose residents fled after the rebels
seized control.
The Syrian army command issued a statement saying that it "restored
security and stability to Kassab". It also said the operation "smashes
the illusions" of the rebels securing a sea port in Samra or a buffer
zone along the border to use as "a base for launching terrorist acts
against the Syrian people".
Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which has a reporter embedded with
Syrian troops, broadcast live footage from Kassab that showed a
blown-out stone building with a smouldering wooden staircase. Soldiers
in camouflage uniforms milled in the streets, and the rocky hills
typical of the area could be seen in the background.
Engineering units were clearing mines and dismantling booby traps in
Kassab, Syria's pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
The government made dislodging rebels from Latakia a priority for
strategic as well as symbolic areas. The coastal province is a
stronghold of the Alawite minority to which Mr Assad belongs, which is
an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and losing control of even a portion of
it was an embarrassment to the government.
Also today, the state news agency said that some 230 prisoners were
freed under a general amnesty declared by Mr Assad following his
re-election in Syria's June 3 vote. Sana said the prisoners were
released from lock-ups in the central cities of Homs and Hama, as well
as the north eastern province of Hassakeh.
The Observatory confirmed that detainees were released today, although
it could not provide exact numbers. The group said that more than
1,500 people - a mix of anti-government activists and common criminals
- have been freed under the presidential amnesty since it was
announced on June 9.
International rights groups say there are tens of thousands of
anti-government activists, protesters, opposition supporters
imprisoned in the country. It is not clear how many of them will be
covered by the pardon.
- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/syria-recaptures-border-crossing-30355995.html#sthash.m2vC9FVe.dpuf