Big rebel attack in Syria targets area vital to Assad

A fighter from the Free Syrian Army's Al Rahman legion fires his weapon on the frontline against the forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, Syria July 27, 2015. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Insurgents have launched a major offensive on government-held areas in northwestern Syria in a bid to advance towards a coastal region vital to President Bashar al-Assad's control of the west, a monitoring group and activists said on Tuesday.

A Syrian military source described the attack as large and widespread. The insurgents are trying to drive into the Sahl al-Ghab plain, an area crucial to the defence of the coastal mountains that are the heartland of Assad's Alawite sect.