Syria Daily: Insurgents Advance In Latakia and Aleppo Provinces
▻http://eaworldview.com/2014/03/syria-daily-insurgents-advance-latakia-aleppo-province
Countering the regime’s headline victories north of Damascus and west of Homs last week, insurgents have advanced in offensives in Latakia and Aleppo Provinces.
In coastal Latakia in western Syria, the insurgents’ al-Anfal offensive has claimed the Kassab border crossing with Syria. Heavy fighting continues for control of the nearby village of the same name, with dozens of casualties claimed in the last 48 hours.
The insurgent bloc Islamic Front, the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra, and Ansar al-Sham are involved in the offensive, which began on Friday. It is the first major insurgent push in Latakia since an offensive last August claimed a series of villages, but petered out as Syrian forces pushed back.
If held, the gains counter the regime’s narrative that it is on the way to winning the war, following last weekend’s capture of Yabroud, the largest city in the Qalamoun region between Damascus and the Lebanese border.
Syrian forces have taken three key towns and cities in the Qalamoun offensive since November. They also took the main insurgent positions west of Homs, including the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers castles.
However, insurgents have been claiming territory in the south between Quneitra and Daraa, as well in the northwest in Idlib and Aleppo Provinces.
Unconfirmed claims circulated on Saturday that the insurgents have finally cleared a series of regime checkpoints around Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province. If true, the victory both lifts the siege on Khan Sheikhoun and cuts off the supply line to regime bases further north in the province, which is largely controlled by the opposition.
