Regime loses village in NW Syria to opposition: Sources

By Erdal Turkoglu

HATAY, Turkey (AA) – Armed Syrian opposition groups on Monday captured a village and surrounding hills from Assad regime forces in the countryside of Syria’s northwestern Latakia province, according to the Association of Turks in Syria.

According to information provided by the group and other local sources, opposition forces managed to seize the village of Nahshaba and the nearby hills of Telal Rasha, Al-Burkan, Al-Dabbabat and Al-Malek in the Jabal al-Akrad area.

The military gains took place within the context of an ongoing opposition offensive dubbed "Operation Ashuraa".

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which had erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based NGO, has put the death toll from the six-year-old conflict at more than 470,000.