Page 9 - ATD23Jan2016
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Saturday 23 January 2016
Syria government thanks Russia
for help in recapturing key town
V. ISACHENKOV wite sect. Salma, a town People stand on a street in Salma, Syria, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. Syrian government forces relying
Associated Press of 10,000, sits on hills over- on Russian air cover have recently seized Salma, located in Syria’s province of Lattakia, from mili-
SALMA, Syria (AP) — Pic- looking the Mediterranean tants. The Syrian government offensive has given Assad a stronger hand going into peace talks
tures of Syrian President coast, about 40 kilometers with the opposition that are planned for next week in Switzerland.
Bashar Assad hang on (25 miles) away.
nearly every building in the The governor said the mili- (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)
town of Salma, which gov- tants who had held Salma
ernment troops captured burned 200 hectares (500
last week in one of their acres) of apple orchards
most significant advances and 300 hectares (750
since Russia intervened mil- acres) of forest around the
itarily on their side. city before retreating to-
The Syrian government of- ward Turkey.
fensive has given Assad a The border with Turkey, a
stronger hand going into key supporter of rebels in
peace talks with the oppo- the area, is only 12 kilome-
sition that are planned for ters (seven miles) away.
next week in Switzerland. On Friday, Syrian troops
The Russian military on Fri- captured more areas
day took Moscow-based from insurgents in Latakia
reporters to see the town province, including Ka-
in Latakia province, which luksi mountain and several
had been out of govern- other villages, according
ment control for more to the state-run SANA news
than three years. Most of agency.
the buildings bore visible The Britain-based Syr-
signs of fighting, with holes ian Observatory for Hu-
in concrete walls gaping man Rights reported heavy
open and windows blown clashes in the mountains
out. of Latakia province, say-
Government forces were ing that the Syrian army
able to capture the city and pro-government forc-
“thanks to the support of es were advancing in the
the friendly Russian avia- area.
tion,” Latakia Governor The hills around Salma
Ibrahim Khder al-Saalem were littered with blown-up
said. “Our army will now tanks and other vehicles.
press its offensive further.” Russian Defense Ministry
Since Russia launched its spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor
bombing campaign on Konashenkov said Russian
Sept. 30, its warplanes have planes had helped destroy
flown nearly 6,000 missions military vehicles and bun-
in support of the Syrian kers placed in strategic po-
government troops. The sitions, helping prepare the
airstrikes were ostensibly way for the Syrian army to
to target Islamic State mili- capture the city.
tants and other extremists, He said the area had many
but they also have helped ammunition depots, hold-
Assad push back rebels on ing massive caches of ex-
several fronts and capture plosives, which also were
dozens of villages in the targeted by Russian war-
north and west. planes.
While Salma had been Syria’s five-year civil war
under rebel control since has killed a quarter of a mil-
2012, the government lion people, displaced half
had continued to hold the country and enabled
most of the rest of Latakia the radical Islamic State
province, the heartland group to seize a third of
of Assad’s minority Ala- Syria’s territory.q
