Southern Front rebels and al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate announced Thursday a fierce offensive on Syrian regime forces in the major southern city of Daraa, saying their aim was to "purify" the area.
Operation "Storm of Truth" was announced on Twitter by the Southern Front, an alliance of rebel groups, "to purify the province of Daraa from the filth of the gangs of [Bashar] Assad," AFP reported.
Thursday's offensive appears to be a continuation of an assault in June, launched by the same groups but dubbed "Southern Storm."
That round of fighting left at least 60 rebels, 18 loyalists and 11 civilians dead.
Activists told Zaman al-Wasl that number of senior rebel commanders have been killed in the fight in the latest 48 hours, including Zakariya al-Abboud, leader of Fallujat Houran Division, Mohamed Abdulrahim al-Ghanem, commander of Ahrar Mzeireeb, Jalal al-Masri, senior commander in Yarmouk Army, and Colonel Hussein al-Heraki.
Opposition groups already control parts of the city and about 70 percent of the province of the same name, which borders Jordan.
Syria's southwestern corner is of strategic importance due to its proximity to Damascus and neighboring states Israel and Jordan. It is also the last significant foothold of mainstream rebels, who have mostly been crushed elsewhere in Syria by government forces or jihadist groups.
Syria's regime has already lost two provincial capitals - Idlib in the northwest, which is held a rebel alliance including Al-Nusra, and Raqqa in the Euphrates valley, which is held by ISIS.
The "Southern Front", an alliance of rebel groups, has been coordinating operations against Assad from a joint command center in Jordan. It includes groups that have received some support from foreign states that want to see Assad gone, including Gulf Arab governments.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as popular protests against four decades of Assad family rule but changed into armed insurgency under a security force crackdown.
More than 230,000 people killed and over 12 million forced to flee their homes.
Operation "Storm of Truth" was announced on Twitter by the Southern Front, an alliance of rebel groups, "to purify the province of Daraa from the filth of the gangs of [Bashar] Assad," AFP reported.
Thursday's offensive appears to be a continuation of an assault in June, launched by the same groups but dubbed "Southern Storm."
That round of fighting left at least 60 rebels, 18 loyalists and 11 civilians dead.
Activists told Zaman al-Wasl that number of senior rebel commanders have been killed in the fight in the latest 48 hours, including Zakariya al-Abboud, leader of Fallujat Houran Division, Mohamed Abdulrahim al-Ghanem, commander of Ahrar Mzeireeb, Jalal al-Masri, senior commander in Yarmouk Army, and Colonel Hussein al-Heraki.
Opposition groups already control parts of the city and about 70 percent of the province of the same name, which borders Jordan.
Syria's southwestern corner is of strategic importance due to its proximity to Damascus and neighboring states Israel and Jordan. It is also the last significant foothold of mainstream rebels, who have mostly been crushed elsewhere in Syria by government forces or jihadist groups.
Syria's regime has already lost two provincial capitals - Idlib in the northwest, which is held a rebel alliance including Al-Nusra, and Raqqa in the Euphrates valley, which is held by ISIS.
The "Southern Front", an alliance of rebel groups, has been coordinating operations against Assad from a joint command center in Jordan. It includes groups that have received some support from foreign states that want to see Assad gone, including Gulf Arab governments.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as popular protests against four decades of Assad family rule but changed into armed insurgency under a security force crackdown.
More than 230,000 people killed and over 12 million forced to flee their homes.
Zaman Al Wasl
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