Daraa (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s army entered rebel-held parts of Daraa city on Thursday, state media said, raising the national flag in the cradle of the uprising that sparked the country’s seven-year war.

After securing Damascus in May, President Bashar al-Assad is determined to oust rebels from a key southern region bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

A ceasefire announced last week stemmed nearly three weeks of regime bombardment on the southern province of Daraa, including the symbolic provincial capital of the same name.

Until then, the northern half of Daraa city was in regime hands, while the opposition held out in its southern neighbourhoods including Daraa al-Balad.

“Syrian army units enter Daraa al-Balad and raise the national flag in the main square,” the official news agency SANA reported on Thursday afternoon.

Late Wednesday, it had said the regime and rebels had reached a deal for opposition fighters to hand over their heavy weapons in opposition-held parts of the city.

On Thursday, an AFP correspondent in Daraa al-Balad saw a convoy of Russian military police and regime officers enter the city with journalists to raise the flag.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the flag raising on Thursday was merely “symbolic”.

Measures to implement the so-called reconciliation deal for rebel-held parts of the city had not yet been implemented, it said.

“The rebels are still inside Daraa city,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said, but had not yet handed over their heavy weapons and there were no signs of any evacuations.

– IS jihadists –

Under the deal, “those (rebels) who want to settle their status with the regime will hand over their heavy weapons, keep their light arms and remain in the city”, he said.

“Those who refuse the deal will head out towards the north of Syria.”

AFP / Mohamad YUSUF. Displaced Syrians from the Daraa province come back to their hometown in Bosra, southwestern Syria, on July 11, 2018.

The reconciliation deal for Daraa city is the latest in a string of such agreements that have seen the Russia-backed regime retake large parts of the country since 2015.

They usually follow blistering military campaigns and sometimes stifling sieges that effectively force the rebels into surrendering.

Previous such deals have seen thousands of rebels bused up to areas still under opposition control in the north of the country.

The regime retaking full control of Daraa city will be a hugely symbolic blow to the opposition.

In 2011, teenagers were arrested for scrawling anti-Assad slogans on the walls of a school in the poverty-stricken city, sparking mass protests against the government.

Several of those teenagers picked up arms after the uprising developed into a full-fledged conflict that has since killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions.

The war has since 2011 grown in complexity, drawing in world powers and involving jihadists.

The ceasefire deal for Daraa excludes jihadists of the Islamic State group, who control a small corner of the province on the border with both Jordan and the occupied Golan Heights.

Overnight to Thursday, an IS affiliate seized a village east of that pocket from rebels who had agreed to a regime takeover.

The Jaish Khaled bin Walid group took control of Heet village after deadly clashes, as well as Russian and regime air strikes against them, the Observatory said.

Featured Photo: AFP / Mohamad YUSUF. A bus stops at a checkpoint as displaced Syrians from the Daraa province come back to their hometown in Bosra, southwestern Syria, on July 11, 2018.

For nearly two weeks, regime forces and their Russian allies have battered rebel-held parts of southern Syria with air strikes, rocket fire, and barrel bombs.

The strategic area was ostensibly protected by a ceasefire agreed by the US, Jordan, and Russia just under a year ago, but President Bashar al-Assad is dead-set on retaking it.

The violence has pushed waves of terrified civilians out of their homes at a shocking rate, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said Monday.

“We were expecting the number of displaced in southern Syria to reach 200,000, but it has already exceeded 270,000 people in record time,” said UNHCR spokesman in Amman Mohammad Hawari.

“We’re facing a real humanitarian crisis in southern Syria,” he said.

AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. Jordanian soldiers control the border between Syria and Jordan, near the town of Nasib, southern Syria, on July 1, 2018.

According to the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, 70,000 of those displaced have sought shelter along the border with Jordan.

They arrived in dilapidated cars piled high with mattresses and suitcases to join thousands already camped out in arid plains near the frontier.

Jordan has kept its border firmly sealed, insisting it cannot handle any more than the 650,000 registered Syrian refugees it already houses, and has instead sent aid into its war-torn neighbour.

Thousands of other displaced have headed west towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, although Israel, too, has pledged to keep its border closed.

– ‘Never’ negotiate –

Those key frontiers are what make Syria’s south a prized area for Assad, in addition to its accessibility to Damascus.

After securing the capital earlier this year, he turned to the south, bombing rebel towns heavily and making significant ground gains.

The government simultaneously also opened negotiations with rebel factions through its ally Russia, offering a halt to bombardment if rebels hand over territory.

More than a dozen towns and villages have agreed to a regime takeover in recent days, doubling the area under government control in the main province of Daraa to 60 percent since operations began on June 19.

But other opposition bodies have rejected the deals.

AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. Displaced Syrians from the Daraa province fleeing shelling by pro-government forces wait in a makeshift camp to cross the Jordanian border, near the town of Nasib, southern Syria, on July 1, 2018.

In a statement Monday, the civilian half of the opposition’s delegation said they had withdrawn from talks.

“We did not attend negotiations today. We were not party to any agreement and we never will be,” said the statement, accusing those who agreed to such handovers of trying to selfishly secure personal interests.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday there were “divisions among rebel groups” over whether to agree to the terms proposed by Russia.

Under the deal offered, rebels would hand over medium and heavy weapons and Syrian state institutions would resume work. Displaced families could return with guarantees by Russian military police.

Men who defected from Syria’s armed forces or who did not complete their compulsory service could regularise their status with the regime within six months.

And regime forces would take over the Nasib border crossing with Jordan as well as deploy along the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

– ‘Acts of revenge’ –

But many residents were worried a deal struck with Russia would only be violated later on, said Daraa activist Omar Hariri.

Since the terms did not include mass population transfers to other opposition-held zones like in previous deals, residents feared the regime would abduct or arrest its opponents in “acts of revenge,” he told AFP.

Ahmad Arsheedat, 48, a displaced man from Daraa city, feared worse.

AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. A displaced Syrian child from the Daraa province fleeing shelling by pro-government forces waits in a makeshift camp to cross the Jordanian border, near the town of Nasib, southern Syria, on July 1, 2018.

“I absolutely do not support reconciliation because the Iranian and Russian militias will come in, wanting to slaughter us all,” he said of the regime allies.

“They won’t leave a single person alive, especially here in Daraa, the cradle of the revolution.”

Daraa activist Hariri said rebels and opposition entities were facing a very difficult choice.

“The noose is getting tighter and tighter,” he said.

Eight towns fell to regime control on Saturday and another five on Sunday, including the key town of Bosra al-Sham.

It was held by Shabab al-Sunna, one of the south’s most powerful factions, and its willingness to agree to a deal stirred fierce criticism of its leader Ahmad Al-Awdeh.

Rebel supporters repeatedly referred to him as a “traitor” in posts on Twitter.

An opposition source from the south with close knowledge of the talks said Russia’s piecemeal approach to the deals had hamstrung the negotiating committee.

“Its position was weakened by localised, individual deals, Ahmad Al-Awdeh’s individual agreement with the Russians over Bosra al-Sham, and Russia’s successful military advance on the ground,” the source told AFP

Featured Photo: AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. Displaced Syrians from the Daraa province fleeing shelling by pro-government forces wait in a makeshift camp to cross the Jordanian border, near the town of Nasib, southern Syria.

Daraa (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s army launched an assault on the flashpoint southern city of Daraa Tuesday, state media said, after a week of deadly bombardment on the nearby countryside caused mass displacement.

Government forces have set their sights on retaking the south of the country, a strategic area that borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The escalation against rebels in the past week is the latest in a Russian-backed campaign to retake territory lost since the start of the Syria’s war in 2011.

For a week, they have ramped up their bombardment of countryside areas in the southern province of Daraa, which the United Nations says has forced 45,000 people to flee.

But on Tuesday, state media said the army was launching an “operation” on the provincial capital itself, known widely as the cradle of Syria’s seven-year uprising.

AFP / Omar KAMAL. Southern Syrian offensive.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first ground operation inside the city since the escalation began.

An AFP correspondent on the southern edge of Daraa city said he could see large columns of smoke along the city’s skyline and two airplanes circling above amid the steady boom of air strikes and shelling.

State television reported: “Syria’s army is carrying out targeted air strikes against terrorist positions and fortifications in Daraa.”

Government news agency SANA said the strikes were a prelude “before military units advance into the southeastern quarter of the city.”

Rebel groups mainly hold the southern half of the city while loyalists control the north.

– ‘Unparallelled destruction’ –

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said: “Russian and Syrian air strikes, as well as barrel bombs, targeted rebel areas in Daraa city.”

Syria’s army is pursuing a divide-and-conquer strategy against rebels in the south, aiming to chop up the horseshoe-shaped territory that the opposition holds.

“The regime is seeking to take control of a military base south of the city, which will allow it to cut the route between Daraa city and the Jordanian border, as well as further divide the rebel areas,” said Abdel Rahman.

Overnight, regime forces had recaptured two villages in the east of Daraa province, which allowed them to cut off a rebel pocket, the Observatory said.

A military source cited by state media said the army had seized both Basr al-Harir and Mlehat al-Atash.

AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. The Syrian government’s capture of the strategic rebel-held village of Basr al-Harir, seen here following an air strike on June 24, 2018, is part of a wider offensive in the south that has seen mounting rebel losses and a major exodus of civilians.

Troops then arrived on the edges of the nearby town of Al-Herak, SANA said.

Air strikes and barrel bombs on Tuesday caused “unparallelled destruction across the town and to its infrastructure”, 48-year-old resident Khaleel al-Hariri told AFP.

Al-Herak’s hospital had already been put out of service several days ago by bombardment.

Raids on Tuesday also killed a rescue worker in the town of Basr al-Harir, the White Helmets rescue service said.

The UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Syria said at least 45,000 people had fled fighting in the area in recent days.

– ‘Massive displacement’ –

“We haven’t seen massive displacement in this scale in Daraa,” spokeswoman Linda Tom said.

Displaced families on Tuesday could be seen streaming out of rebel-held areas in trucks piled high with mattresses, furniture, and blankets.

In the distance, air strikes left massive brown-grey clouds of smoke hanging above agricultural fields.

Rebels hold most of Daraa and the adjacent province of Quneitra, while the government holds a majority of Sweida to the east.

The army began escalating last week with intense bombardment of Daraa’s eastern countryside, then started striking the rebel half of Daraa city as well.

On Tuesday, regime forces expanded the offensive even further.

“Russian and Syrian air strikes began hitting opposition positions in Daraa’s western countryside near the Golan Heights, for the first time in a year,” said Abdel Rahman, killing six civilians.

That brings to 38 the number of civilians killed in a week of regime bombardment. A total of 29 rebels and 24 pro-government fighters have been killed so far.

AFP/File / Mohamad ABAZEED. A Syrian family flees fighting in the southern province of Daraa on June 21, 2018, among at least 45,000 the United Nations says have been driven from their homes in the region.

The United Nations had previously warned that fighting was putting 750,000 people in rebel-held areas of the south in harm’s way.

More than five million people have fled abroad since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011. Another six million are displaced inside the country.

Jordan said on Sunday it could not absorb a new wave of refugees across its border.

Front lines had been relatively quiet for nearly a year under a “de-escalation” deal agreed by Russia, the United States and Jordan in July 2017.

To avoid a bloody onslaught, Russia is leading talks with Syria, Jordan, Israel and the United States to reach a negotiated settlement.

Featured Photo: AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED. Syrian government forces have seized the strategic rebel-held village of Basr al-Harir, seen here following an air strike on June 24, 2018, as they press a Russian-backed offensive in the south.