Air strikes kill 12 in rebel-held southern Syria

World
Europe

Unidentified air strikes have killed 12 civilians in a rebel-held pocket of southern Syria as Syrian government ally Russia presses for Damascus to retake the area in talks, a monitor said Wednesday.

The deadly strikes late Tuesday hit Nawa, the last town under rebel control in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitor said it could not determine whether the strikes on the town in the west of the province were carried out by the Syrian government or its Russian ally.

Fire from fighting is seen from Quneitra, July 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

The Syrian government has, in less than a month, retaken more than 90 percent of Daraa province, which borders Jordan and was the cradle of Syria's 2011 uprising.

But opposition fighters in Nawa, where tens of thousands of people live, have resisted.

After Syrian government forces launched a ferocious offensive on June 19, Russia pressured rebels to hand over eastern parts of the province in early July, and the provincial capital last week.

Other towns in the west of the province have also joined the deal.

Syrian forces of President Bashar al Assad are seen on al-Haara hill in Quneitra area, July 17, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Negotiations were ongoing Wednesday towards Nawa joining the reconciliation deal" with the Syrian government for the wider province, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

A ceasefire deal announced earlier this month between the Syrian government and rebels in Daraa province did not include jihadists.

After retaking most of Daraa, Syrian government forces on Sunday opened a new front in the neighboring province of Quneitra, adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Earlier on Tuesday, 15 civilians were killed in strikes in both provinces, including 14 in Ain al-Tina village on the administrative border with Quneitra.

Source(s): AFP