BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government ground forces and allied militia backed by Russian air strikes launched an offensive against rebels in the strategically important Ghab Plain in western Syria on Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Insurgents advanced into the area earlier this year, building on gains that have posed a threat to the coastal region vital to President Bashar al-Assad's control of western Syria.
Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, told Reuters that troops were targeting insurgent-held areas with heavy barrages of surface-to-surface missiles, as Russian jets bombed from above.
(Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Louise Ireland)
