The Syrian army has recaptured all rebel-held positions in Latakia Province, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s home province, state-run SANA news agency reported yesterday, quoting a military source.
“The army retook control of the Nabi Ashia mountain range and adjoining areas in the north of Latakia Province,” the source said, of villages seized early this month by rebels trying to topple al-Assad.
On Sunday, state television reported that the army had reclaimed rebel-held villages in the coastal province, hinterland of al-Assad’s minority Alawite community.
However, a Syrian security force source said the army still had to recapture the Salma region, a strategic area along the border with Turkey that has been in rebel hands since the end of last year.
ENCLAVES
Rebels positioned in remote enclaves in Latakia’s mountains launched the “battle for the liberation of the Syrian coast” about two weeks ago.
They quickly captured a dozen Alawite villages near Qordaha, hometown of al-Assad’s late father and long-time Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the “army has made progress” in Latakia Province, but could not confirm that it had recaptured all the villages seized by the rebels.
The Britain-based Observatory said that rebel fighters on Sunday shot down a military plane over Salma.
“The pilot bailed out, but was later captured, most likely by insurgents,” said the watchdog, which relies on a wide network of militants, medics and military sources on the ground.
Meanwhile, UN inspectors tasked with investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria arrived on Sunday in Damascus.
A team of more than 10 inspectors arrived at the Four Seasons hotel in the Syrian capital to begin their hard-won mission, which UN officials have said would last two weeks.
DELAYS
The mission had been repeatedly delayed over differences with the Syrian regime concerning the scope of the probe into the alleged use of chemical arms in the Syrian war.
Both the government and the rebels accuse each other of using chemical weapons.
The UN team is led by Swedish arms expert Aake Sellstroem and is expected to investigate Khan al-Assal, near Aleppo.
Two other sites — Ataybeh and Homs — are also expected to be inspected for attacks that reportedly took place in March and December last year respectively.
The mission is tasked to assess if chemical weapons were used during the conflict that erupted in March 2011 — but not to determine responsibility for any such attacks.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
CORRUPTION PROBE: ‘I apologize for causing concern to the people, even though I am someone insignificant,’ Kim Keon-hee said ahead of questioning by prosecutors The wife of South Korea’s ousted former president Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday was questioned by a special prosecutor as investigators expanded a probe into suspicions of stock manipulation, bribery and interference in political party nominations. The investigation into Kim Keon-hee is one of three separate special prosecutor probes launched by the government targeting the presidency of Yoon, who was removed from office in April and rearrested last month over his brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 last year. The incident came during a seemingly routine standoff with the opposition, who he described as “anti-state” forces abusing their legislative majority to obstruct
RSS