No acts of theft reported in Kassab under rebels control

It is almost four weeks when Islamist rebels moved in from Turkey and seized the border crossing at the Armenian Christian village of Kasab - the last crossing point from Turkey into the coastal area and Bashar al-Assad’s heartland.

Until now no acts of theft or looting have been reported in the historical village because the key rebel group and al-Qaeda affiliated, al-Nusra Front, has set up many checkpoints to prevent robbery, Zaman Alwasl reporter said. 

Activists reported wreckage in some villas and chalets but no furniture and properties have been moved or looted.

For three years, according to Reuters, residents of Syria's Mediterranean provinces have watched from their coastal sanctuary as civil war raging further inland tore the country apart, killing tens of thousands of people and devastating historic cities.

While many Alawites, roughly 10 percent of Syria's 23 million people, have actively supported Assad, others sympathized with the popular revolt against him in 2011 but now fear reprisals from his mainly Sunni Muslim enemies.