(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime has been facilitating the move of ISIS militants into opposition-held areas in the southern province of Daraa, sources said.
The move comes as regime and allied Shiite militias close to launch major offensive to take a de-escalation zone near the Occupied Golan Heights.
After almost two weeks of announcing victory in the capital by uprooting Daesh from the southern neighborhoods, the fact on the ground reveals that regime is coordinating with ISIS members to infiltrate them to southern Syria.
Daesh members are being transferred by army vehicles, then they use a route in the Jordanian border to enter eastern Daraa countryside, sources said.
The regime army forces set up checkpoints for Daesh west of the Druze-held city of Suwaida, a new dirty card the Bashar al-Assad’s regime is playing in the south, activists said.
Meanwhile, rebels in the southwest of Daraa have been reinforcing their positions as regime forces arrived there, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights.
The regime is planning to target an area near the borders with Jordan and Israel despite a U.S. warning to take "firm and appropriate measures" in response to any violations of a ceasefire it brokered with Russia in that area, Reuters reported.
The southwest is one of the big chunks of territory that still remains outside the control of the regime, which has recovered swathes of territory with the support of the Russian military and Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Fighting in southwestern Syria has been contained since last year by a "de-escalation" agreement brokered by Russia, the United States and Jordan.
A senior Jordanian official told Reuters on Monday the three countries that signed last year's deal to create the zone "saw eye to eye" on the need to preserve it as a key step to boosting efforts to reach a political solution in Syria.
Russia said on Monday that only Syrian army troops should be at the southern border with Jordan and Israel, which has waged air strikes in Syria to curb what it fears is Iran's expanding influence.
Zaman Al Wasl
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