Government forces flushed opposition fighters from their last strongholds in northwestern Syria
near the Turkish frontier Sunday, seizing the Armenian town of Kasab
and restoring government control over a nearby border crossing,
activists and state media said.
The developments came as regime airstrikes pounded bases in eastern Syria belonging to the Al-Qaeda splinter group ISIS in coordination with the Baghdad government, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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 counteroffensive’s success is the latest blow to the rebels, who have suffered a string of recent setbacks.
