50 die in clashes near Syria's Latakia: activists

Fifty combatants have died in recent clashes between Syrian government troops and jihadist militant groups near the coastal city of Latakia, a monitoring group said Thursday.

The battles raged in the town of Dorien in the northern countryside of Latakia, said the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The toll of 50 included those killed in both sides, reported the group, which says it relies on a network of activists on the ground inside Syria.

As part of their push into the area, government forces also shelled nearby Salma, a strategically important held by rebels, the Observatory said.

Earlier this week, the Syrian army and allied forces launched a major offensive against a cluster of jihadist rebel groups in the Latakia countryside.

According to the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV, the offensive involved the Syrian air force and heavy artillery, led to the recapture of the town of Dorien.

Government troops are also battling rebels in Kinsabba, a town close to the Turkish border, to cut off a major smuggling route, the TV report said, adding that dozens from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded militant groups were killed in the first wave of attacks earlier this week.

Latakia province, home to the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, to whom the ruling elite in Syria belongs, bears a special significance as the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad. Endit