Syrian regime shells rebels with intense fire near Israeli border

War monitor says Assad troops steadily retaking southern Quneitra province in Russian-backed offensive

By AFP 15 July 2018, 1:52 pm
A man rides a scooter in front of the Syrian national flag, raised in a street in Daraa-al-Balad, an opposition-held part of the southern Syrian city of Daraa, on July 12, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Mohamad ABAZEED)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces have been intensively shelling the southern province of Quneitra since early Sunday and seized part of the region, a war monitor said.

“The bombardment started from 03.00 (midnight GMT) and continued for the last six hours,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Around 800 missiles and shells have been fired against several areas in the province and fierce fighting continues on the ground between regime forces and rebels,” the chief of the Britain based monitor said.

Regime forces have retaken the area of Masshara, he added. “Bombardments have also hit areas in (neighboring) Daraa province.”

He did not immediately provide an estimate of casualties.

Syrian regime soldiers stand next to a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad hanging on a tank at the Nassib border crossing with Jordan in the southern province of Daraa on July 7, 2018. (AFP Photo/Youssef Karwashan)

After securing Damascus and outlying areas of the capital, President Bashar Assad’s regime on June 19 launched an offensive against Daraa, with support from Russia.

The Daraa onslaught took less than three weeks to break the rebels’ grip, with the regime now in control of more than four-fifths of that province’s territory, the monitor said.

Rebels and jihadist groups still control 70 percent of Quneitra, while the Syrian government is in full control of Sweida — a third southern province — the Observatory added.

Quneitra province borders the Israeli border. Israel has been on high alert in recent weeks as Assad’s forces have tackled rebel-held areas of southern Syria.

Abdel Rahman said that unlike in Daraa, fighter planes had not been used in the Quneitra offensive and that Russia was not yet taking part.

A rebel fighter walks near what purportedly are the remains of a Syrian regime drone that was shot down by Israel the day before, in a field near Barqah, a few dozen kilometers from the Israeli border on July 12, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Ahmad al-Msalam)

The IDF said Friday it had fired a missile and “very probably” destroyed a drone flying over the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, after intercepting another drone on Wednesday.

Spurred on by Russia’s entry into Syria’s civil war in 2015, Assad’s regime now controls 61 percent of the country’s territory, according to the Observatory.

Syria’s conflict has killed more than 350,000 people since March 2011.

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