Victory near Turkish border follows air bombardment seen by some as message from Russia to Turkey, which has supported Syrian rebels
Troops loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, backed by intense Russian airstrikes, have retaken strategic territory near the government’s stronghold of Latakia, scoring a key victory before possible peace talks in Geneva.
The conquest of the towns in northern Latakia, near the Turkish border, was seen by some observers as a message from Russia, which has intervened to prop up Assad, to the government in Ankara that has supported the rebel cause – especially the ethnic Syrian Turkmen in the area – and shot down a Russian fighter jet in the vicinity.
“The Russian airstrikes for more than a month had intensified to a horrific extent and they were bombing all the frontlines that we are on,” said Nasser al-Turkmani, a spokesperson for the opposition’s Turkmen-Syrian Council. “We had to withdraw from the area because it would have been suicide to stay. The destruction cannot be described, even the trees have been burned as a result of this scorched earth policy.”