(Zaman Al Wasl)- Russia has warned the Syrian regime of launching any attack on rebels in southern Syria, saying it will not provide the aerial backup if regime insists to violate the U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire deal, sources told Zaman al-Wasl on Sunday.
Commanders form the Russian army met with the regime military officers in the Ninth Division base in Al-Sanamayn town where they delivered a message saying 'no offensive is welcome again rebels in southern Daraa province,' according to the sources.
The U.S., also, urged rebels to not launch any attack against the regime army and allied militias in Daraa.
The warning by Moscow and Washington followed clashes erupted on March 12 when the regime jets struck rebel-held towns. The first aerial attacks on the area since the United States and Russia brokered "de-escalation zone" last July.
The southern area around Daraa province is one of three main parts of the country where large populations are still under the control of rebels opposed to Bashar Assad, along with a northern area near the Turkish border and the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus.
Regime forces have focused their efforts on Eastern Ghouta since mid-February, launching one of the fiercest campaigns of the war now entering its eighth year.
The regime has recaptured 90 percent of Eastern Ghouta, killing more than 1700 people in 5 weeks.
One rebel commander said the strikes in the south appeared to be a warning to rebels under the Free Syrian Army umbrella who were planning to wage an offensive in coming days to relieve pressure on their comrades in Eastern Ghouta, Reuters reported.
"We were starting an operation, and we had not announced zero hour, and the regime preempted us," Abu Nabout said, a military commander in Liwa Tawheed al-Jnoob, a rebel faction in the FSA rebel alliance.
Russia, which backs the Assad regime, and the United States, which has backed rebel forces seeking to topple Assad, met secretly in Jordan in June and announced a ceasefire in Syria's southwest a month later.
The truce had reduced fighting there and was meant to lead to a longer-lasting de-escalation, a step towards a full settlement.
Rebels have long feared regime army will return to attack them once it has consolidated gains in the north and other areas. Insurgents say the de-escalation zones free up Syria's army to make territorial gains elsewhere.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 11 million made homeless in Syria's multi-sided civil war. The government has made huge territorial gains since Russia joined the fighting on the side of Assad in 2015. With Reuters
Zaman Al Wasl
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