Syrian rebel sheikh calls for war on Assad's Alawite heartland

AMMAN (Reuters) - An influential Islamist cleric turned rebel commander urged Syrian insurgents on Wednesday to focus their war on President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite heartland to create a "balance of terror" and help turn the tide of the conflict.

After seizing large tracts of Syria's north and east and parts of the centre, the rebels - short of heavy weaponry - have struggled to weaken Assad's grip over most major cities and his western Alawite communal stronghold along the Mediterranean coast that so far has been largely unscathed by the civil war.