Battles between the Syrian army and jihadist-dominated militant groups have raged in Syria's Northwestern coastal province of Lattakia on the Syrian-Turkish borders, as the army launched a wide-scale offensive to capture the Kasab border crossing. The Syrian army inflicted hefty losses upon the militant groups, which have launched a wide- scale offensive since Friday to capture the Kasab border crossing on the Syrian-Turkish borders, Xinhua reported. The official media added clashes with the "terrorists" are ongoing, charging that a number of Turkish armored vehicles are firing shells to assist the militant groups. It added that Turkish border guards on the Kasab border point took part in firing at Syrian territories. Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari sent letters to the UN secretary-general and the head of the Security Council, charging the Turkish army of covering this "terrorist attack" and providing logistic and military support for the attackers. The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states. The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.