Syria: Army repels multiple attacks on key post

Syrian army troops thwarted several attacks by the militants on a highly important strategic position in the coastal Lattakia province. The army units with the help of National Defense Forces could push back militants' simultaneous raids waged from their positions in neighboring Turkey on Observatory 45 in the Northern parts of Lattakia in three different fronts. The attacks were conducted on the border town of Kassab and the militants were trying to recapture the newly-released Observatory 45. Earlier this week, the Syrian army regained control of the Observatory 45. "Syrian army units have full control of Observatory 45 in the North of Lattakia province and are continuing to pursue terrorist groups," a Syrian state TV broadcaster said on Wednesday. Observatory 45 is a strategic hilltop that overlooks several areas inhabited by residents from the Alawite community. A week earlier, the militants seized the hill as part of an offensive launched March 21 in Lattakia province, which had been relatively untouched by the widespread violence elsewhere in the country. More than 300 have been killed on both sides since the militants launched their offensive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. "The army has managed to install multiple rocket-launchers on Observatory 45, but fighting continues in the vicinity of the hillside," the group said on Wednesday. After a series of militants’ losses in Damascus province, the opposition has shifted its focus to Lattakia, where the army has rallied to defend the area. On Monday, opposition forces fired Grad rockets at the Bassel al-Assad airport for the first time. Syria's conflict in now in its fourth year, and more than 146,000 people have been killed since it began.