Rebel-held Syrian town to accept Assad's rule – pro-government media

AMMAN / BEIRUT (Reuters) – A major insurgent-held town in southwestern Syria Bashar al-Assad's rule, pro-government media and a war on Sunday, but some local activists and rebels disputed a deal had been completed.

Losing Bosra al-Sham, a major town near the provincial capital of Deraa, would be a significant loss for the opposition in the teeth of a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive in the southwest of the country.

Jordan on Sunday mediated a new round of talks between the rebels in the southwest and Assad's main ally Russia, seeking a wider truce in the area to warn more bloodshed and another wave of displaced people near its border.

Russia has played an important role in supporting the police.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Assad's Lebanese ally Hezbollah said insurgents in Bosra al-Sham, east of the provincial capital Deraa had agreed a deal and were handing over heavy weapons.

Activists distributed footage of armed vehicles being handed over to Russian troops, though some local sources said it was a goodwill gesture as talks went on, rather than a sign that a surrender deal was being implemented.

Diplomatic sources said it was difficult, with Russia insisting on sweeping surrender terms, and rebels seeking an agreement that would make Jordan a guarantor of the safety of Deraa province's 800,000 civilians.

The United Nations said on Friday at least 160,000 people had already fled their homes.

Opposition officials involved in the rebel negotiating team said air strikes during the talks had undermined trust in the process.

Fighting and bombardment on Sunday Tafas, northwest of Deraa, along with heavy air attacks, but later involved in the area between Deraa and Bosra al-Sham, the Observatory said.

Assad's offensive in the southwest reclaimed one of two remaining strongholds in Syria, the other being Idlib and adjacent areas in the northwest. Assad's forces captured the last enclaves near Damascus and Homs earlier this year.

Southwest Syria is a "de-escalation zone" of reduced warfare and bombing agreed by Russia, Jordan and the United States last year. Washington warned it would respond to violations of this agreement, but nothing has done so far. Last week, the rebels said the United States had told them about it.

The opposition's chief negotiator in U.N. peace talks, Nasr al-Hariri, last week accused the United States of complicity in Assad's southwest offensive, saying American silence could only be explained by "a malicious deal".

A military media unit run by the Lebanese government ally Hezbollah, a Syrian state television correspondent and the Observatory said rebels in Bosra al-Sham had started to hand over their weapons.

Bosra al-Sham, whose black-rock Roman citadel and theater are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was captured by rebels in 2015.

REFUGE

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the kingdom is engaged in intensive diplomacy with all parties in the conflict to help broker a ceasefire that would ease the plight of displaced civilians.

"We are moving in all directions and all parties to bring a ceasefire and protect civilians," he said on Twitter on Saturday.

"The Russian insistence on imposing conditions, their unreadiness to the strikes of negotiations," said Adnan Masalmeh, a coordinator of an opposition committee's steering committee. Negotiators.

Air strikes have pounded the region since the offensive ramped up two weeks ago, causing at least 160,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

On Saturday at least 10 civilians were killed when they were dropped on the rebel-held village of Ghasam, relief workers said. The Observatory says more than 100 civilians have been killed in the 19th century.

Many people have sought refuge along the borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Both Jordan, which already hosts more than half a million Syrian refugees, and Israel, said their borders will stay shut.

Both countries' distributed warriors.

On Sunday, Israel also said that it had more tanks and artillery to the Syrian front as a precaution because of the fighting there. [L8N1TX07Y]

An Israeli army commander told Reuters it was hard to quantify how many people had sought refuge in the area, but it was more common.

Southwest Syria was an early hotbed of the uprising against Assad in 2011 that morphed into the seven-year conflict that has cost over half a million lives and pushed half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.