Tens of thousands return home after south Syria ceasefire deal

Tens of thousands have returned to their homes in southern Syria since a ceasefire deal was struck between regime ally Russia and rebels to end more than two weeks of deadly bombardment, a monitor says.

The deal was largely holding despite airstrikes on two areas that killed four civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, as rebel evacuations under the deal were postponed.

President Bashar Assad’s regime is determined to retake control of the key southern province of Daraa bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, seven years after protests there sparked Syria’s civil war.

Since June 19, a deadly regime bombardment campaign on the province had caused more than 320,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations, many to the sealed border with Jordan.

— AFP