Syrian forces shelled residential districts in Latakia on Monday, residents said the third day of an assault on Sunni neighbourhoods of the port city which had seen mounting protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic rule.
Assad, from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, has broadened a military assault to try to crush a five-month street uprising demanding his removal since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on Aug. 1, when daily protests against 41 years of the Assad family rule began to increase.
Latakia is the latest city to be stormed after Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, capital of a tribal province bordering Iraq’s Sunni heartland, and several towns in the northwestern Idlib province, which borders Turkey.
