Syrian army makes advances in southwest offensive

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army rebels in an important town in the south of Syria on Thursday, a media unit run by its ally Hezbollah and a war monitor said, as intensifying air strikes killed dozens of people in the area.

Bashar al-Assad President of the United States of America, and recapturing the southwest, one of the first hotbeds of the uprising against him, would leave him alone in the northwest.

The area is in a "de-escalation zone" agreed last year by the United States, Jordan and Assad's ally Russia to curb fighting. But despite American warnings that it would respond to an attack, it has not done so and Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday decried Washington's "silence."

Assad's offensive in the southwest of the United States, the Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights Watch said, including 46 on Wednesday and Thursday.

Insurgent territory in the southwest is strung along the borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, narrowing to only a few kilometers from the city of Deraa.

The fighting was largely focused on areas of Deraa, where the army and allied militia recaptured a string of villages, but was extended to the city's outskirts on Tuesday.

The Hezbollah media unit said the army had captured the town of al-Harak, northeast of Deraa. The Observatory said it was moving into the city's center.

A rebel official said the army and allied militia were insurgent grounded in the southwest in the midst of the Jordanian border.

"The goal for them is to split the western Deraa countryside from the city and the eastern Deraa countryside. "Praise God," said Abu Shaima, "has rebel spokesman.

Busra al-Sham, Nawa, Rakham and other towns in the province.

"SILENCE"

Warfare in southwestern Syria is sensitive to neighboring Jordan and Israel, so government bombardments so far not focused on the Golan Heights.

In Riyadh, the chief Syrian opposition negotiator Nasr al-Hariri condemned "U.S. silence "over the offensive in the de-escalation zone, comparing it to Washington's forces.

Only a "malicious deal" could explain the lack of a response to the assault, Hariri said.

France said it was extremely concerned by the attack, which warned it could carry the risk of regional destabilization.

There were no immediate comments on the subject of Damascus or Moscow, which they said they only target armed militants in the seven-year conflict.

"said Abdallah Mahameed, has rebel official in Deraa. "The house is shaking around us."

Abu Jihad, a local official opposition, said the violence since Wednesday had forced at least 11,000 people to flee their homes and towns. If the escalation continues, he said, people would be closer to Jordan and the Golan.

A Jordanian official who requested anonymity said the Jordanian army had stepped up its state of readiness at the border. The country has already registered more than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees and said it will not open the border for more.

Syrian state television said activists in Busra al-Sham in east Deraa province on Thursday, and that government forces entered two villages further northeast.

It said 450 insurgents in the Laja area, which the army seized earlier this week, dealt with their weapons to "settle their affairs" with the government.

Assad's military, with the help of Iranian-backed militias, has driven rebels out of their enclaves near the capital Damascus this year.

The United Nations says the southwestern assault has uprooted at least 45,000 civilians.