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Nabih Bulos
A little over three years ago, the rebels stormed the Nassib crossing at the southern border of Syria with Jordan. They broke loose in the administrative buildings, tearing the flag of the Syrian state and trampling the photos of President Bashar Assad.
At the time, this was perceived as a new loss for a government on the verge of ruin, its troops battered in desperate retreat. Last weekend, soldiers again brandished the state flag on Nassib, the state-run Syrian news agency reported, with a view to ending it. complete fire and surrender of the rebels' enclave. southern province of Daraa.
The victory still cemented a recovery of Russian engineering for Assad, which restored him control of what the French called "Syria Useful" – the chain of large cities d & rsquo; Aleppo beyond Damascus and the Mediterranean coast of the country
It also paves the way for the reopening of the Nassib Passage, an important economic passage whose loss has impoverished Syria and Jordan.
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SANA posted footage on his weekend Telegram channel of soldiers who flashed a sign of victory by waving a flag on a building. Others have shown piles of ammunition and armored vehicles abandoned by the rebels.
The Syrian Army also captured several border posts east of Nassib and has already "closed all illegal crossings and smuggling and supply routes for terrorist groups". in the last two weeks, the southern sky had been invaded by Russian and Syrian warplanes carrying out hundreds of air strikes on the rebel stronghold, which at its peak covered about two thirds of Daraa as well as the neighboring province of Quneitra under the control of factions backed by the West as well as the jihadists of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Strikes were the usual prelude to ground offensives that had seen other oppositions enclaves fall over the past two years.
With 320,000 people already displaced since June 19 and lacking support from Western and regional supporters, rebels have reported most of the displaced have fled to the Daraa border with Jordan and to the province neighboring Quneitra near the Golan Heights occupied by Israelis, battered by desert winds and temperatures. which could rise above 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
At least 15 people could not stand the harsh conditions; the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that they had died in areas near the Jordanian border because of "scorpion bites, dehydration and diseases transmitted by contaminated water" .
Jordan and Israel refused to let refugees in.
About 20,000 civilians began returning home on Saturday (AEST), according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (1965-1993), according to other observers rebel media. transferred to the city of Busra al Sham under the leadership of Shabab al Sunnah, an opposition faction now working with the government.
The agreement, says SANA, states that the rebels are abandoning their heavy and medium weapons.
Insurgents willing to lay down arms and live under Assad's regime may adhere to amnesty agreements, and those who have left their military service would be reinstated in the army in the six months. [1965900] 6] As in previous versions, those who refuse will be transported to areas held by rebels in the north
All observation points along the border with Jordan will be returned to government control while public institutions and services will be restored. Residents could also return home with the Russian military police as guarantors of their safety.
But rebel spokesmen insisted that government troops would not be allowed in the area. under the Russian police. The army, they said, would also withdraw from the more than 30 villages it had taken during the last offensive.
At the time of writing, the army had not withdrawn and several rebel militants reported widespread looting.
Rebels surrender paves way for government offensive on Quneitra, an unstable region where jihadists are stranded in a corner of territory between Syria, Israel and Jordan
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