PHOTO: Orange smoke rises from an explosion in a building in Latakia, in western Syria on the Mediterranean, on Monday


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The mystery continues over the explosion in a building in Latakia in western Syria on Monday morning, killing four people including at least one child. However, discussion is centring on the possibility that Syria’s navy accidentally hit the residential complex in the city, considered a base for Assad regime.

Video and photographs showed a tower of yellow smoke above the high-rise, and reports indicated that at least four people, including one or two children, were killed.

The Syrian military initially said the residential complex was hit by a bomb. Later, it claimed that an unmanned reconnaissance drone — belonging to an unidentified foreign power — crashed into the building.

But analysts noted that the explosion was much larger than that associated with a drone. The orange smoke was also unusual, and could not be attributed just to the stirring of dust by the explosion.

An alternate explanation developed through the day. The anti-ship P-15 missile is distinguished by its trail of yellow smoke. It is also part of the Syrian navy’s arsenal.

Did the navy, aiming at an unknown target in the province along the Mediterranean, strike the building in a misfire?

So far the Assad regime is making no further comment. Photographs of remains of the munitions are inconclusive.


Kurds Take More Territory from Islamic State, Move Into Village of Mabrouka

Kurdish forces have continued to take territory from the Islamic State in northeastern Syria, advancing into the village of Mabrouka:

Mabrouka hosts the main electrical power distribution center that supplies towns in Cezire, one of three Kurdish cantons.

Since they held off the Islamic State’s four-month assault on the center of Kobane at the start of 2015, the Kurdish YPG militia and allies have taken territory along the Euphrates River and are now advancing to the west.

The advance appears to have been supported by US airstrikes, including one at 4:27 in the video above.

Kurdish fighters have been given a “greenlight from the coalition in that respect,” Al-Akhbar quoted Kurdish Front Brigade spokesperson Ahmad Hasso as saying.

The paper also quoted an unnamed Kurdish field source as saying that “the opening of the Kobane-Cezire road is now a matter of time, as all the necessary procedures have been taken, in stages, to achieve that goal.”

The Kurds hope to link their frontlines two of their three cantons, Kobane and Cezire. The gap between Kobane and the outskirts of Ras al-Ayn (Sere Kaniye) in Hasakah Province is about 90 km (56 miles).

A Kurdish official said that “there is an agreement between the joint forces” of the Free Syrian Army as well as the Kurds “that support will continue until the Kobane-Cezire road is opened.”


Video: Civil Defense Retrieves Corpses of Assad Troops in Jisr Al-Shughour Hospital

Syrian civil defense members retrieve the corpses of Syrian troops who died in the National Hospital in Jisr al-Shughour, in Idlib Province in northwest Syria, during a month-long siege by rebels who captured the city:

Up to 200 Syrian forces tried to flee the hospital last Friday amid fears that the building would be attacked by a tunnel bomb. Rebels claims that they captured or killed most of those who tried to escape:

See Syria Daily, May 24: Battle Continues Over Fate of Assad Troops Fleeing Jisr al-Shughour Hospital

Meanwhile, rebels have posted video of the capture of Brigadier General Abdul Khaliq Mansour, who was in the hospital:

At least three other generals were killed in the attempted breakout.


Rebels Point to Offensive on Aleppo with Attacks on Ring Road to South

Pointing to a possible offensive on regime-held areas of Aleppo, rebels continued to attack positions along the ring road to the south of the city on Sunday.

Pro-rebel accounts said fighters took control of the villages of Rashadiyah and Sheikh Mohamed, near Khanasir, on on ring road southeast of Aleppo. Pro-Assad outlets acknowledged the attacks, but asserted that the rebels had been forced to withdraw later in the day.

On Saturday, rebels took the Sheikh Sa’id junction & bridge, further to the west on the ring road between Nayrab airbase and Ramouseh.

The opposition forces are hoping to cut the road to prevent the Syrian military from reinforcing the western sections of Aleppo, which it has held since the city was divided in July 2012, with troops and supplies from Hama Province. In particular, the rebels are hoping to break the link between Aleppo and as-Safira, a key regime position to the southeast.


Syrian Air Force Attacks Palmyra After Islamic State Takeover

The Syrian air force is bombing the historic city of Palmyra, captured by the Islamic State last Wednesday.

Details on the attacks were sketchy, given the limited information coming out of the city since the militants pushed out Assad forces. State news agency SANA, citing a “military source”, said only that “the Syrian Arab Army’s Air Force destroyed ISIS dens and gatherings in the surroundings of al-Ameryia [north of Palmyra] and Palmyra Airport”.

SANA also reported attacks on the Islamic State elsewhere in eastern Homs Province, including the desert town of al-Sukhna — captured by the militants in their rapid advance on Palmyra — the Palmyra-Homs road, and near gas fields still held by the regime.

See also Syria Daily, May 25: Has the Islamic State “Slaughtered 100s” in Palmyra?

Images of Palmyra after its capture by the Islamic State:

Trying to reassure supporters after the loss of Palmyra, famed from Roman times, Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi visited nearby oil and gas fields, a military airport, and an army outpost.

SANA said he was “voicing confidence in achieving victory over terrorism in Palmyra, Jisr al-Shughour” — lost to rebels in the northwest of the country on April 26 — “and all of Syria”.

However, the pro-Assad outlet Al-Masdar News headlines new Islamic State attacks in eastern Homs, including an attempt to take the village of Jazal near electricity grids and gas fields. The militants also moved on the villages of al-Qurayteen and al-Farqalas, 35 km (22 miles) east of Homs city.

During its offensive on Palmyra, the Islamic State captured gas fields and the T-3 pumping station. The militants already hold the large majority of Syria’s areas for oil and gas production.