Pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hang on nearly every building in the town of Salma, which government troops captured last week in one of their most significant advances since Russia intervened militarily on their side.
The Syrian government offensive has given al-Assad a stronger hand going into peace talks with the opposition that are planned for this week in Switzerland.
The Russian military on Friday took Moscow-based reporters to see the town in the Latakia Governorate, which had been out of government control for more than three years. Most of the buildings bore visible signs of fighting, with holes in concrete walls gaping open and windows blown out.
Photo: AP
Government forces were able to capture the city “thanks to the support of friendly Russian aviation,” Latakia Governor Ibrahim Khder al-Saalem said. “Our army will now press its offensive further.”
Since Russia launched its bombing campaign on Sept. 30 last year, its warplanes have flown nearly 6,000 missions in support of Syrian government troops. The air strikes were ostensibly to target Islamic State militants and other extremists, but they have also helped al-Assad push back rebels on several fronts, and capture dozens of villages in the north and west.
While Salma had been under rebel control since 2012, the government had continued to hold most of the rest of Latakia, the heartland of al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect. Salma, a town of 10,000, sits on hills overlooking the Mediterranean coast, about 40km away.
The governor said the militants who had held Salma burned 200 hectares of apple orchards and 300 hectares of forest around the city before retreating toward Turkey. The border with Turkey, a key supporter of rebels in the area, is only 12km away.
On Friday, Syrian troops captured more areas from insurgents in Latakia, including Kaluksi mountain and several other villages, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy clashes in the mountains of Latakia, saying that the Syrian army and pro-government forces were advancing in the area.
The hills around Salma were littered with blown-up tanks and other vehicles.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Russian airplanes had helped destroy military vehicles and bunkers placed in strategic positions, helping prepare the way for the Syrian army to capture the city.
He said the area had many ammunition depots, holding massive caches of explosives, which also were targeted by Russian warplanes.
Syria’s five-year civil war has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced half the nation and has enabled the Islamic State group to seize a third of Syria’s territory.
The talks planned for this week in Geneva are meant to start a political process to end the conflict, which started in 2011 as a largely peaceful uprising against al-Assad’s rule, but escalated into an all-out war after a harsh state crackdown.
The plan calls for ceasefires in parallel to the talks, a new constitution and elections in a year-and-a-half.
Before the fighting began, Salma was a popular tourist spot in the summer for people seeking a respite from the heat. On Friday, life was returning to the city, with doctors standing outside the local clinic and police officers gathering at their station, which was adorned with a multitude of al-Assad portraits.
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