Clashes escalate in Syria\'s Latakia province

Clashes between Syrian troops and opposition fighters heated up in the country\'s Bayir Bucak area, some 3 kilometers from the Turkish border in the western coastal province of Latakia. Assad regime\'s troops fired missiles on the area controlled by opposition fighters, sources told the Anadolu Agency. On Wednesday night, the sound of powerful blasts in the region were heard across the Turkish border in Yayladagi town and border villages. In a separate development on Wednesday, another Syrian army officer defected to Turkey. The UN has said more than 70,000 people have been killed and 1 million others have been forced to leave their homes in the two-year-old civil war in Syria.