(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime forces stepped up its artillery shelling on opposition-held towns in southern Daraa province, local activists said Sunday.
The border region with Jordan has endured to heavy artillery bombardment as regime army mobilizes troops in the next-door province of Suwaida to launch a major attack on Allajat area, activist Abu Ma'an al-Turki told Zaman al-Wasl.
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.
Rebels on Friday killed three regime troops in Daraa city following the army attempt to seize opposition-held neighborhoods, activist Ibrahim al-Hourani told Zaman al-Wasl..
The clashes erupted late on Friday near the Old City of Daraa and Al-Manshiya neighborhood.
Sources told Zaman al-Wasl last week that Russia had warned the 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.
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 against rebels in Daraa,' according to the source.
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.
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 2017 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. Rebels say the de-escalation zones free up the Assad army to make territorial gains elsewhere.
About half million 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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