Syrian Rebels Corner Government Forces in Latakia Province

“The Assad regime has apparently grown reliant on the repugnant use of barrel bombs as an instrument of terror against innocent Syrian civilians”, Power said in a statement.

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.

A rebel commander said the army had fallen back to the Alawite village of Jurin.

Thick black smoke billowed out of the charred vehicles as a fire engine sped down the street and people hurriedly walked away.

The cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been arrested for a road rage incident in which he allegedly shot and killed a senior air force colonel.

Around 1,000 people staged a rare protest demanding Suleiman Assad’s execution amid widespread anger over the killing.

The insurgent advance into the Sahl al-Ghab plain in northwestern Syria has brought rebels including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front to the eastern edge of mountains that form the historical heartland of Assad’s Alawite people. It comes amid mounting speculation that the Syrian leader’s grip on power is slipping during a four-year civil war that has taken a heavy toll on the Syrian military, causing huge manpower losses that have helped rebel forces recently seize significant territory.

The western coastal region of Syria has been largely spared of the worst of the violence that has wracked the country since an uprising that began in March 2011.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said negotiations underway focused on securing a safe passage for Ahrar al-Sham and other rebels groups out of Zabadani in exchange for allowing humanitarian aid and food to the besieged Foua and Kfarya.

The attack on Marea followed the capture of a nearby rebel-held village, Um Hosh, by ISIS fighters, the Observatory and a rebel commander said.