Syrian Army Established Control over Key Town in Lattakia

Local Editor

Syrian Arab Army recaptured a key militant-held town in coastal Lattakia province Sunday, building on battlefield advances in the area ahead of planned peace talks this week in Geneva between the government and the Syrian opposition.

According to military sources, army units, in cooperation with popular defense groups, established control over Rabia town and al-Rawda village, about 60 kilometers northeastern countryside of Lattakia.

Same sources reported that the engineering units are combing the area and dismantling the explosive devices and landmines planted by the terrorists, some of them were killed and injured by the army operation, who fled towards Turkey.

Earlier on Saturday, army units, in cooperation with popular defense groups, established control over the villages of al-Tefahiya, Hilwa al-Gharbiya, Hilwa al-Sharqiya, al-Amlik, Beit Arab, Beit Ablaq, and Tal Asholan along with all the hills surrounding them in Lattakia's northern countryside.

The latest advance came ahead of peace talks originally set for Monday but which now look likely to be delayed, partly due to a dispute over the opposition negotiating team's composition.

Relatively, the recapture of the town of Rabia in Lattakia province, confirmed by Syrian state television, paved the way for an advance up to the border with Turkey.
Rabia is the second most important base for the militants in the northern Lattakia countryside after the town of Salma, which the Syrian army seized earlier this month in one of the most significant recent advances.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team