Monitor: Rebels, Russia in talks over bombarded southern Syria province

DARAA, Syria — Syrian rebels and local officials are pursuing talks with regime ally Russia on Sunday over the fate of a key southern region facing a government offensive, a Britain-based monitor says.

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

A “ceasefire has largely held since Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to facilitate the ongoing negotiations,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman says.

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 Golan Heights and is considered to be the cradle of the uprising against President Bashar Assad seven years ago that sparked the civil war.

— AFP