BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least four people were killed on Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the western Syrian town of Qardaha, the ancestral town of President Bashar al-Assad, state media said.
It was the first explosion to target Qardaha, in Latakia province, in nearly four year of civil war. The bomb went off in a hospital car park
Armed groups fighting government forces regard Qardaha, a town of 5,000 nestled in pine-clad hilltops overlooking the coastal city of Latakia, as a top prize.
They have launched several offensives in the past few years with an objective of reaching Qardaha, Assad's stronghold and burial place of his late father Hafez.
In 2013 they launched an offensive and seized several villages and killed more than 200 people. They have managed to get as close as 20 km (12 miles) to Qardaha before being pushed back.