Seven dead as Syria coastal province pounded for second day

The Syrian army continued its offensive against rebel positions in the Mediterranean province of Latakia on Wednesday.

For a second day, government helicopters and tanks attacked
insurgents in several towns. Activists said at least seven people were
killed.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that
rebels seized control of police and intelligence buildings in the
Latakian town of Selma before army reinforcements arrived.

On Tuesday more than 35 people were killed in the same coastal
province, according to activists, who claimed at least 26 of them were
regime soldiers.

Meanwhile Syrian forces killed a Lebanese man and wounded at least
two others in a gunfight on the Lebanese-Syrian border near the town of
Arsal, according to Lebanese security sources.

New video footage emerged which purportedly shows the aftermath of an incursion into the town of Taftanaz, in Idlib province.

Locals estimate that two thirds of the town’s 15,000 people have
left due to the government’s bombardment. Mass graves have been created
for those killed with handwritten notes to identify the dead.