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BEIRUT (Reuters) – Dark smoke rose over areas held by Syrian rebels near the border with Jordan on Thursday as President Bashar al-Assad's Russian ally unleashed heavy air strikes and government forces sought to advance on the ground.
UNHCR refugee agency urged Jordan to open its borders to Syrians who have fled the fighting, saying the total number of displaced with more than 320,000, with 60,000 of them gathered at the Jordan crossing.
Assad aims at recapture the The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Jordan. The area is one of the last rebels strongholds in Syria after the war (19659004) With no sign of intervention yet by its foreigners, government forces seem set for another big victory in the war after crushing the last remaining rebel bastions near Damascus and Homs.
State television showing giant clouds of smoke towering over fields, rooftops and a distant industrial area, accompanied by the sound of occasional explosions.
After a few days of reduced bombardment, intense air strikes resumed on the following day of the rebellion of the rebels, brokered by Jordan
"The Russians have not stopped the bombing," Bashar al-Zoubi, prominent rebel leader in southern Syria, told Reuters in a text message the Deraa area, the focus of the government offensive.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, monitoring the war th
State media said government forces had captured the town of Saida, some 10 km (six miles) east of Deraa city. A rebel command center said on Twitter The city has been hit by air raids, barrel bombs and rocket dams
The two-week-old attack has taken a chunk of rebel territory northeast of Daraa city, where some rebels surrendered.
The Observatory said 150 civilians have been killed.
ASSAD IN ASCENDANT
For the president, the Deraa campaign holds the prospect of reopening the Nbadib crossing with Jordan, a vital trade artery. Once Deraa is captured, the campaign is expected to move into the Quneitra area closer to the Golan frontier.
Recovering the frontier with the Golan Heights is also important to Assad, reestablishing his status as a frontline leader in the conflict with Israel,
State TV said Thursday's bombardment on the southern part of Deraa, a city long split between rebels and the army, and the towns of Saida, al-Nuaima, Um al-Mayadan and Taiba.
It is said that the army aimed at the area immediately after Deraa city, where rebel territory narrows to a thin corridor along the Jordanian border.
This would split the territory in two.
] The army has been trying to reach the Jordanian border in the immediate area of Deraa, but it was not succeeded in insurgent-held air base there, the rebel command center
Fleeing civilians have mostly sought refuge along the borders with Israel and Jordan, which is already hosting some 650,000 Syrian refugees.
Southwest Syria is a "de-escalation zone" agreed last year by Jordan, Jordan and the United States to reduce violence.
The anti-Assad rebels, the anti-Assad rebels, the United States of America said, "For the anti-Assad rebels, Turkey and a patch of desert in the east where US forces are stationed near the border with Iraq and Jordan.
Assad now controls most of Syria with help from his allies , though a large part of the North-East of the United States.
(Reporting by Angus McDowall and Tom Perry, Editing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Roche)
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