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Syrian rebels await their withdrawal to Daraa
Source: AFP
L & # Syrian army launches offensive Another province in the south-west of the country
S The Yrish rebels began Sunday to withdraw from the former stronghold of the opposition, Daraa, in the south of the country. "Several hundred fighters and some of their relatives" had been lifted in 15 buses and reportedly left the city to the north, an AFP journalist reported. Seven years after the start of opposition to Bashar al-Assad in Daraa, the government has regained control of the city.
According to information from the AFP, 750 people from the city are sent to Idlib, controlled by the rebels in the city. To be brought to the north of the country. Most of them are fighters as well as some families. According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, 1,400 people from the region are sent north safely
A few weeks ago, government forces took over the last positions of the rebels in Damascus and in the surroundings. With support from Russia, the army launched a major offensive on June 19 in Daraa province, where protests against al-Assad rulers began in March 2011.
Weeks of air strikes and rockets forced the insurgents to negotiate. The withdrawal to Idlib concerns rebels and civilians who rejected the agreement signed on July 6. Russian negotiators had initially ruled out the withdrawal of fighters, but they agreed later.
The agreement also provides for the disarmament of rebels and the return of state institutions to Daraa. In recent days, insurgents have begun according to state media reports with the transfer of their weapons to government troops. According to the official Sana news agency, heavy weapons and other military equipment were delivered Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army launched an offensive against rebel positions in the southwestern province of Kuneitra. There have been at least four air strikes, about 850 rockets and rockets fired and fierce fighting on the ground, said the head of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, l & # 's AFP press agency
So far, 18 government soldiers and 13 rebel fighters have been killed, said Rahman. The Observatory is based in the United Kingdom and its information provided by informants in Syria is difficult to verify.
According to the Observatory, the Syrian Army now controls over 80% of Daraa Province. More than two-thirds of Kuneitra further west, along the Israeli-occupied Golan border, is still in rebel hands.
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