(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime warplanes carried out four raids on the eastern countryside of Daraa province, in a new violation for the US-Russian brokered de-escalation agreement, local activists said Thursday.
Daraa-based activist Dia'a al-Hariri told Zaman al-Wasl that no casualties reported in the aerial attack on the southern province amid state of panic pushed some families to flee their areas.
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.
This week, the U.S. embassy in Amman warned the key rebel alliance in Daraa of taking any military action against the regime forces might undermine the de-escalation zone agreement, a Saudi daily reported.
According to the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, a letter was sent by the US Embassy in Amman to the Southern Front, in which the embassy asserted that rebels should give to regime army any pretext to end the ceasefire agreement which reached last July.
The warnings to the Southern Front coincide with the regime mobilization at the gate of Daraa in order to launch a sweeping attack on city.
Sources told Zaman al-Wasl last March 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 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 again rebels in southern Daraa province,' according to the sources.
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. Rebels say the de-escalation zones free up Syria's army to make territorial gains elsewhere.
Also in Daraa, Jaish Khaled Bin Walid, an ISIS branch in southern Syria, has launched an attack on rebel bastions in the western countryside of Daraa city, killing 6 rebel fighters.
Activist Abdullah al-Shami said rebels had thwarted the pre-dawn attack on the town of Sheikh Sa'ad and Masaken Jileen (suburb) in Yarmouk Basin, leaving 15 Daesh militants dead.
Several skirmishes have been reported in last few months between the small jihadist faction and rebels.
Jaish Khaled Bin Walid was formed in May 2016, and is an alliance of several jihadist groups, the largest of them the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, which was listed by Washington as a terrorist group.
The militant group seeks to open corridor for fellow fighters who seek to flee last ISIS pockets in the southern neighborhoods of Damascus.
Well-informed sources said Thursday that senior Daesh commanders have fled southern suburbs of Damascus to Daraa as regime forces shelled their la pockets in the capital, preparing the ground for a possible assault on the militant stronghold.
Sources said a smuggling network related to the Syrian regime and intelligence services has been facilitating the move of ISIS commanders.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Jaish Khaled Bin Walid is estimated to have some 1,200 fighters, and controls territory in western Daraa province, along the border with the Occupied Golan Heights.
Zaman Al Wasl
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