Beirut: Syrian government forces are keeping up their pressure on the country’s strategic southwest, using artillery, airstrikes and dropping barrel bombs on Friday that target rebel-held parts of the region, activists said.
Rebel factions, meanwhile, said they responded with missiles at a government air base in the adjacent Sweida province.
The Observatory said 16 people have been killed in government strikes since Tuesday, including nine children. At least 12,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
The government campaign in the southwestern Syrian region bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights comes despite US warnings of “serious repercussions” for anyone violating a de-escalation agreement in place since last July.
The truce, referred to as a de-escalation zone, was negotiated between Russia, the Syrian government’s main ally, Washington and Jordan and has kept the area calm.
16 people have been killed in government strikes since Tuesday, including nine children. 12,000 people have been displaced by the fighting."
But the truce began to unravel in recent weeks as the Russia- and Iran-backed Syrian government turned its attention southward, after seizing opposition-held areas near the capital, Damascus.
Israel, meanwhile, has grown more active in protesting Iran’s expansion in Syria, carrying out air strikes against suspected Iranian targets in the area.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Thursday that Washington was “deeply troubled” by the Syrian government operations in the area and called on Moscow to “restrain” its ally from further actions that risk broadening the conflict.
The region is a mix of government and rebel-controlled areas, with rebels controlling parts of Daraa city and areas along the border.