Pro-government forces overran the last major rebel-held town in Syria's coastal Latakia province Sunday, as the United Nations prepares to host talks this week on ending the country's nearly five-year war, AFP reports.
Syria's "armed forces, in coordination with the popular defense (militia), seized control of the town of Rabia," state television said.
It is the second strategic victory for pro-regime forces in Latakia in less than two weeks, after government troops seized the rebel bastion town of Salma on January 12.