DHAKA: Syrian pro-government forces recaptured the rebel-held town of Rabiya in the western coastal province of Latakia on Sunday.

Syrian state television and a Britain-based monitoring group said, reports The Jerusalem Post.

The advance, with the backing of Russian air strikes and directed partly by Russian officers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It paved the way for a push by pro-government forces right up to the Turkish border, it said.

Moscow intervened in Syria’s civil war on the side of President Bashar Assad in September.

BDST: 1933 HRS, JAN 24, 2016
RR