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Jordan to hold talks with Russia over Syria

Jordan will hold talks with Russia this week over a ceasefire in southwestern Syria and alleviating the humanitarian situation there, the Jordanian foreign minister said on Monday.

Ayman Safadi, speaking in Amman, said he would travel on Tuesday to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian-backed Syrian regime has launched a major campaign to recover southwestern Syria from rebels.

At least 160,000 people have been displaced, the United Nations says, with most of them going to the borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"I look forward to a frank discussion to discuss how to arrive at a ceasefire as soon as possible," Safadi said.

Jordan, which hosts about 650,000 registered Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations, has said it will not open its borders for more to cross. Israel has also said its frontiers will remain shut.

Syrian rebels and local officials pursued talks with regime ally Russia Sunday over the fate of a key southern region facing a government offensive, a Britain-based activist group said.

The Jordan-backed talks came as a tentative calm reigned over most fronts in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

A "ceasefire has largely held since Saturday at 7:00 pm to facilitate the ongoing negotiations," Observatory chief Rami Abdel-Rahman said.

On Sunday, a military media unit run by the regime's ally Hezbollah reported that rebels in Bosra al-Sham had agreed to settle with the regime.

The rebels had started handing over heavy weapons in preparation for the army to enter, it reported.

Ibrahim Al Jbawi, spokesman for rebels' Central Operation Room, told Zaman al-Wasl that the talks were failed on Saturday because the Russian sought dictations and not negotiations.

The Crisis Management Team, an emergency group represents key rebel factions in Daraa, has withdrawn from the negotiation committee over the 'humiliating surrender deal' offered by Russia.

The group urged all rebel factions to merge efforts in the popular resistance and to not accept any deal not recognizing the Sacrifices of the Syrian people.

Since June 19, Russia-backed regime forces have ramped up bombardment against opposition fighters in southern Syria as Damascus pushes to retake the area.

The region borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and is considered to be the cradle of the uprising against President Bashar Assad seven years ago that sparked the civil war.

The regime has chipped away at rebel-held territory in Deraa since the escalation began almost two weeks ago.

Most fronts were quiet Sunday with the exception of areas near Tafas in Deraa's northwest hit by regime air strikes, the Observatory said.

Clashes between rebels and regime forces in the same area killed four opposition fighters, it said.

Russia is seeking the rebel handover of heavy and medium-sized weapons, and the deployment of Russian military police and Syrian police into towns retaken by government forces, Abdel-Rahman said.

Damascus and Moscow are pushing for a deal that would see regime forces take over the Naseeb border crossing with Jordan and deploy along the frontier with the Golan Heights, he said.

An AFP correspondent outside Deraa city - part of which is held by rebels - said Saturday night had been quiet, with only intermittent bombardment.

After retaking control of eight towns under Russia-mediated deals on Saturday, Assad's regime now controls more than half of Deraa province, up from just 30 percent before the escalation, according to the Observatory.

State news agency SANA said Sunday the national flag had been hoisted in one of these towns, Dael, while Syrian state television showed images of people celebrating.

Regime forces have retaken large parts of the country lost to rebels since Russia intervened on its behalf in 2015.

The conflict has killed more than 470,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011. (With Agencies


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