The insurgents launched a counter-offensive after government forces, backed by allied militant groups, last week recaptured the villages on the Sahl al-Ghab plain, which lies close to the city of Hama and is crucial to the defence of coastal mountains that are the heartland of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
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The UK-based watchdog group said IS aims to advance towards the northern province of Aleppo to sever its northern countryside from the city of Aleppo.
U.S.-led coalition airstrikes are reported to have hit IS positions during the assault, which ended after 37 rival rebels were killed, 20 went missing, and the town fell into IS hands.
IS has swept through territory in Iraq and Syria in an effort to build a cross-border “caliphate”, and sees both the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rival rebel factions as its enemies.
The colonel’s brother said he filed an official complaint, accusing Slaiman al-Assad of killing his brother.
A rare public display of discontent gripped Syria’s government stronghold of Latakia over the weekend after a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad shot dead a high-ranking officer in a road-rage incident.
There were no reports of clashes between protesters and police in Latakia.
The demonstrators called for the execution of Suleiman Al-Assad, son of the president’s cousin Hilal, who was killed in battles with insurgents a year ago.
“The number of victims in the rocket fire Saturday on Damascus by terrorist organisations has risen to 11 dead, including three children, and 46 wounded including some in critical condition”, the agency reported.
Protesters told Syrian Observatory that they will not end their demonstrations until Suleiman al-Assad is executed.
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The Britain-based Observatory, which uses a broad network of sources in Syria to gather information, confirmed the new toll.
