Regime forces step up aerial campaign on Daraa province

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime forces have stepped up its aerial campaign on southern Daraa province in the past 48 hours, violating to the US-Russian de-escalation zone agreement, local activists said.

Friday's strikes targeted the towns of al-Hara and Tel al-Hara in the western countryside of Daraa.

Dozen of people, including women and children, were killed and wounded on Thursday in regime airstrikes on the town of al-Herak, activist Dia'a al-Heraki told Zaman al-Wasl.

The southern area around Daraa province is one of two 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.

In April, 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 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.

In its turn, Russia 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, sources said.

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.

Zaman Al Wasl