Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — For the first time, Sunni rebels are conducting
operations in the heart of the Alawite stronghold in Syria.

Opposition sources said Sunni rebels have deployed in Syria’s Latakia
province, regarded as the coastal enclave of the ruling Alawite community.

The sources said rebel militias were operating from several Sunni towns and
villages in Latakia in an effort to attack strategic facilities of the
regime of President Bashar Assad.

“Three months ago, this would be unthinkable,” an opposition source
familiar with the campaign said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy losses among
Assad troops during fighting in Latakia, home of the Assad family as well as
other leading regime supporters. The London-based opposition group said at
least 15 soldiers were killed on June 5 in battles in the Hefa region of
Latakia. Several of the villages were identified as Babna, Bakas, Dafil,
Jankil, Shirkak as well as Hefa.

Syrian Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said the rebels in Latakia
were led by Sunni deserters from the Syrian Army. Abdul Rahman said the
rebels, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, were
receiving significant support from Sunni communities in the
Alawite-dominated province, home of the feared Shabiha militia.

“The soldiers have been vulnerable to heavy losses because they are not
trained for urban warfare,” Abdul Rahman said.

This marked the first major clashes in Latakia, long regarded as immune
to the Sunni revolt. The province has been dominated by Alawites and other
minorities and included the Russian Navy presence at the ports of Latakia
and Tartous.

The Assad regime has deployed Russian-origin Mi-24 attack helicopters
against the rebels in Latakia. At least three rebels, including an officer
who had recently defected the Syrian Army were killed. Near the central city
of Hama, at least 100 people were said to have been killed in an assault by
the Alawite militia Shabiha, sponsored by Assad.

The Free Syrian Army has claimed responsibility for the killing of more
than 300 Assad troops and Shabiha members during the first week of June. FSA
military council chairman Brig. Gen. Mustafa Al Sheik said Assad’s military
was converting its air defense batteries to shell suspected rebel
strongholds.

“The region has reached the edge of a volcano,” Al Sheik said.

  Bashar Assad, Free Syrian Army, Latakia, Shabiha militia, Sunni deserters from Syrian Army, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian rebels now operating in Alawite heartland