Syrian rebels say in talks

AMMAN / BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels are negotiating with Deraa province, where the army has made rapid progress this month, insurgents said on Saturday.

Air raids continued overnight and on Saturday morning on rebel areas, a war monitor said, backing an offensive that the United Nations says has driven 160,000 people from their homes, threatening a humanitarian catastrophe.

State television reported another city had agreed to come back under state rule, raising the government's flag from its buildings on Saturday.

Russia, the Syrian government's strongest supporter, has been promoted in the past, and has played a role in mediating surrender deals.

Southwestern Syria is one of two remaining strong rebels, along with a region of the northwest, which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sworn to recapture, along with territory held by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in the northeast.

The army's offensive there follows the capitulation of rebel enclaves near Homs and Damascus, including eastern Ghouta, which was recaptured after a scorched-earth assault that killed over a thousand civilians and laid waste to several towns.

Warfare in the southwest could risk further escalation because of its proximity to Israel. The Israelis have already targeted Iran-backed militia fighting on Assad's side, which they have vowed to keep from their country's borders.

The government's offensive so far has focused on Deraa province, which Jordan borders, but not Quneitra province, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The deal is discussed Quneitra, the rebels said.

The entire southwest is part of a "de-escalation zone" agreed last year by Russia, the United States and Jordan. Despite Washington's threats that it would respond to breaches of this arrangement, it has shown that it is doing so, and the opposition has made it difficult to stay silent.

NEGOTIATIONS

Insurgent negotiators and a spokesman said a six-member civilian and military committee of the southern rebels held a preliminary meeting along the administrative borders of neighboring Sweida province.

"said Ibrahim Jabawi, spokesman of the central operations." Free Syrian Army groups in Southern Syria. A second round of talks was expected on Saturday.

Jordan, which borders Deraa province, has been facilitating talks between rebel factions and Moscow over a deal that would end the violence in exchange for the return of state rule there.

Russian negotiators have asked for rebels accepting the terms of the agreement, which are insurgents for the rule of law and the rule of law, Jabawi said.

The southwest rebels did not accept this, and were instead proposing the return of civilian state institutions in the opposition areas and the entry of Russian military police rather than Syrian government forces.

However, the army has already captured large parts of the eastern zone of rebel-held territory in Deraa province, and several more recent reports of the insad.

On Saturday, state television said the town of al-Ghariya al-Sharqiya had accepted a "reconciliation" agreement with the government, and the national flag had been raised there.

It has been agreed that they will accept their arms and accept state rule. The army had gained control over the towns of al-Harak, Ibta and Rakham, it said, and a rebel said lines in one area had collapsed.

The Observatory reported that the warplanes carried out as they were operating, hitting nine towns in Deraa province. So far, about 100 civilians have been killed in air raids and shelling since June 19, it said.

Clashes escalated around Deraa city, which lies close to the border with Jordan, and said it.