Waves of strikes beat southern Syria after talks fail



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Waves of airstrikes have bombed rebel-held areas of southern Syria today, as pro-regime forces launch their most intensive bombing campaign despite a two-week offensive. talks to end the offensive in Daraa province, which has killed dozens and forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Daraa town "From last night until now, Russian planes are pursuing a scorched earth policy," said Hussein Abazeed, a spokesman for word of the common command of the rebels. for the south. "It's to force the rebels to return to negotiations."

Samer Homssi, who had taken refuge on the outskirts of Daraa with his wife and four children, described a series of missiles and cannon bombs launched by Syrian and Russian planes. "The shelling has not stopped since the announcement of the failure of negotiations," said a 47-year-old man whose family had taken refuge in an olive grove . "We live here in the olive trees, scared of everything, shelling, insects, without drinking water or medical services nearby. The situation is very difficult.


The Great Britain-based Observatory reported that airstrikes were underway, including the town of Tafas in northwestern Daraa province and areas near the Jordanian border.

Six civilians, including a woman and four children in the city of Saida. Hours later, regime forces fully took over the city and also took control of a checkpoint at the Jordanian border for the first time in more than three years, said the monitoring group. the strikes were aimed at reducing rebel access roads in the southernmost parts of the province

. The main price of the regime, the border crossing of Nasib, remains in the hands of the rebels. After taking over a large part of the country since Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, the regime's forces set their sights on the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, bordering on Jordan and the Golan Heights occupied by Israel [19659005]. cities for capitulations negotiated in a carrot and stick strategy that he and the regime used to recapture portions of territory including Eastern Ghouta near Damascus earlier this year.

More than 30 southern cities have already agreed to surrender, control of the regime of the province of Daraa to more than 60%, double that he held before the offensive.

This week's discussions focused on the remaining rebel territory in the western countryside of Daraa province and the southern half of the provincial capital. a meeting between Russian negotiators and Russian negotiators yesterday, Moscow insisted that opposition factions hand over their heavy weapons at one time, while the rebels wanted to do it in seven

Moscow would also have refused the demands of some rebels for safe pbadage into the opposition-controlled territory in other parts of Syria, as was done in Eastern Ghouta and Aleppo

. According to AFP, at yesterday's meeting, a Russian negotiator who had identified himself under the name of Alexander had threatened further strikes of the Russian air base in the north-west from Syria. "He threatened that if we do not agree, 40 planes would leave the Hmeimim airport to bomb the south."

In a statement released today, the rebel joint command declared that he wanted "real guarantees" and that the United Nations oversee future negotiations.

"Russian warplanes translate the threatening tone of negotiations into bombs, fires and destruction Daraa is considered the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that unleashed Syria's devastating civil war. 19659002] Nearly 150 civilians have died since the start of the badault in the south, according to the Observatory.The offensive has also displaced between 270,000 and 330,000 people, according to the United Nations, many south of the border with Jordan or to the west near the Golan Heights occupied by Israel

The two countries kept their borders closed,

The world powers criticized the operation for violating a ceasefire announced last year by Washington, Amman and Moscow, but that did not stop the blitz 19659002] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that hostilities They hindered the UN's efforts to provide cross-border badistance to Jordan.

"Thousands of innocent lives will be lost if urgent action is not taken," he warned. The UN Security Council will hold today an emergency meeting in camera on the offensive.

(This story was not edited by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)

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