30 killed in air raids launched by Syria gov’t

BEIRUT—Syrian regime air strikes killed more than 30 people on Saturday in the Latakia province, bastion of the ruling Assad clan, and the northern city of Raqa, a monitory group said.

Seven children were among at least 13 civilians killed in an air raid on Raqa, the only provincial capital in rebel hands, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said the raid was apparently aimed at positions of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which largely controls the city.

ISIS has been the dominant force in the city since its capture by rebels in March. Residents have held several protests against the policies of ISIS which follows an extremist line of Islam, according to the Observatory.

An Italian Jesuit priest and activist, Paolo Dall’Oglio, who hoped to negotiate with ISIS in Raqa, went missing in the city at the start of August.

In the coastal Latakia province of northwest Syria, at least 20 people were killed in several air strikes on the Sunni rebel town of Salma in the Jabal al-Akrad area, the Observatory said.

At least six of those killed were Syrian rebel fighters, while four were foreign volunteers, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory.

Latakia province is a stronghold of the Alawite minority of President Bashar Assad, apart from rebel-held pockets. AFP