FREE #Syria "rebels R consolidating their position in mountains above Latakia – wh may become the Regimes last redoubt"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/27/syria-rebels-consolidate-near-latakia?CMP=twt_gu …
Even in Assad's coastal retreat, the war has come and the bombs are...
The Guardian Even in Assad's coastal retreat, the war has come and the bombs are dropping
Bands of rebels, pursued by Syrian air power, are consolidating their position in mountains above the wealthy playground of Latakia – which may become the regime's last redoubt
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Abu Yousef and his sons are among only 10 families who have chosen to stay behind in their shelled Christian-Sunni village near Latkia. Others have fled, fearing for their lives Photograph: Zac Baillie for the Observer
Local people describe it as a distant growl, an ever-present rumble, just to the north. A reminder that war is now at their doorstep.
It has been this way for two months in Latakia. The port city had managed to ride out Syria's civil war, seemingly content in the knowledge that whatever was happening in Hama to the south-east, or Idlib a little further north, an army stood between its gates and its foes. Not any more.
The spectre of war is now a reality here in the staunch core of the regime heartland, as much as it is in the rebellious and ravaged Sun
