Syrians said to flee, fearing regime attack on IS in south

Several thousand Syrians have fled parts of the country’s south held by an affiliate of the Islamic State group due to fears of a government attack, a monitor says.

The IS-held pocket in Daraa province’s western countryside is not included in a ceasefire deal agreed last week between rebels and the regime’s ally, Moscow.

That agreement put an end to more than two weeks of heavy bombing of rebel-controlled areas, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that those living under an IS affiliate fear they are the next target.

“Around 4,000 people including hundreds of women and children fled areas controlled by Jaish Khaled bin Walid in western parts of Daraa, toward the border with the occupied Golan,” the Britain-based monitor says.

The affiliate holds just under seven percent of Daraa province, according to Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

The regime’s military advance and the handover of towns through the ceasefire deal has brought government forces to areas adjacent to the IS-controlled zone, Abdel Rahman tells AFP, but no operation had begun.

— AFP