Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
Jun 15, 2014, al Akhbar
“Units from the army are reestablishing security in the province of Latakia after killing a large number of terrorists and destroying their weapons,” the television said, referring to rebels who had been in control of the town for more than two months.
Kessab, an Armenian town, is strategically important because it is located near the only border crossing with Turkey in sensitive Latakia province.
Rebel fighters, including members of Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, withdrew from the town on Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, leaving only a small number of men behind.
As they pulled back, Assad’s troops backed by other pro-regime groups, among them Hezbollah, had advanced on the village of Nabaein near to Kessab.
On Sunday, the pro-opposition Observatory said that government troops had entered Kessab, held by the rebels since March 21, but that fighting was still raging in the town.
“Fighting is still pitching soldiers against the rebels who stayed there,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
“The insurgents did not want to be besieged in Kessab” by the army, he said.
Under frequent bombardment by government forces, Kessab was vital for rebels who used it as a staging post to transport their wounded to Turkey, which backs the opposition.
The Syrian government had accused Ankara of helping rebel groups seize Kessab.
