This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Rachel Wright, and at 14 hours GMT on Monday the 10th of March, these are our main stories.

Syria's Defence Ministry says it's ended a military operation in its coastal provinces, where

hundreds of people have been killed in recent days. The trade war between the US and China ramps up.

The US will take part in the first negotiations over Gaza

since President Trump was elected.

Also in this podcast, we hear about the cyber hackers working in North Korea.

They have been around for at least 15 years doing this.

They have been very involved in a variety of large attacks over the years.

We begin this podcast in Syria, where the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus have been witnessing the worst

outbreak of violence since December of last year, when insurgents overthrew the former president

Bashar al-Assad. Since Thursday, clashes between Assad loyalists and the security forces have brought

havoc to several cities and towns, reportedly killing more than

a thousand people. Most of the dead are members of the former president's Aloite minority.

Now the Syrian Defence Ministry says that calm has been restored in the region, but members of

the alowite community say they still fear for their lives. The BBC spoke to someone in Latakia, who, for their

own safety, asked us to withhold their identity, so one of my colleagues has voiced their answers.

How am I feeling? I am totally terrified. I have my family. I'm sitting all day and all night with them.

I don't know when the jihadis will arrive outside our house and start killing us.

That's the truth.

No one can help.

There's no police we can call, no security, no nothing.

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