Syrian troops shell rebels near city of Latakia

BEIRUT: Syrian forces on Sunday unleashed a new round of heavy shelling and sent reinforcements to a mountainous area near the coastal city of Latakia where hundreds of rebels have set up base and which has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days, activists said.
The fighting between government troops backed by helicopter gunships and armed groups in the area of Haffa began on Tuesday. An opposition group said at least 58 soldiers have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the operation there since.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the heavy losses indicate the seriousness of the challenge in the mountainous area where “hundreds” of rebels are entrenched. His estimated death toll could not be independently verified.
State-run news agency SANA said “terrorist groups” in Haffa attacked public and private institutions on Saturday and committed “heinous” crimes against civilians, setting fire to the national hospital and forcing people to leave their homes. It said troops killed a number of them and arrested several others, adding it was still pursuing gunmen and working to restore security to the area.
Six children were among 10 people killed by a shell that exploded in a house where they had taken cover during the fighting in the region on Saturday, the Observatory said.
Thousands have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March last year. The UN’s latest estimate is 9,000 dead, but that is from April and the world body has been unable to update the figure since.