Rebels fire 300 rockets into Shiite towns in NW Syria

At least 300 improvised rockets and mortar shells slammed into predominantly-Shiite towns in northwestern Syria, killing seven civilians, a monitor group reported Tuesday.

The rockets were fired by the Jihadi groups against the towns of Foa'a and Kafraya, two of the very few remaining government strongholds in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib.

Much of the province has fallen recently to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded groups.

Intense battles lasted for eight straight hours in the vicinity of the two adjacent towns, in what appeared to be the rebels' recent push to storm them.

The towns have been besieged for months, following the rebels' capture of the surrounding Idlib towns, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based watchdog group said local Shiite fighters were fighting alongside the Syrian army for the defense of the towns, adding that the Shiite fighters are being trained by fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which has been combating alongside the Syria government forces against the large wave of Sunni-led Jihadi groups.

Meanwhile, people from the two Shiite towns who live in Damascus staged a rally overnight at the international road of the Damascus airport, demanding that the government forces and Hezbollah transport them to Foa'a and Kafraya to help protect their brethren.

The Syrian crisis, which has been dragging for four years, has taken a sectarian turn, pitting Sunni-led insurgency and ultra-radical groups like the Islamic State and Nusra Front against other minority groups in Syria, mainly the Shiite sect, to which the Alwaite minority of President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Endit