Nineteen people, including six civilians and several children, were killed in Syria’s Daraa province on Thursday as violent clashes broke out between government forces and rebels. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that regime forces “indiscriminately” opened fire and shelled civilian areas in Daraa and called the fighting the “most violent and broadest clashes in Daraa since it came under regime control.”
The SOHR said the fighting began with regime forces conducting raids in opposition-held areas in southern Syria earlier this week. “Regime forces targeted several positions in Daraa al-Balad in Daraa city this morning [Thursday] with medium and heavy machineguns, mortars and short-range surface-to-surface missiles,” it stated, adding that “several mortars also hit positions in Daraa camp.” In addition, the human rights monitor reported “clashes between regime forces and their proxy militias on the one hand, and local gunmen from Daraa al-Balad on the other […] along with similar clashes on the outskirts of Daraa camp.” It also blamed regime forces for damaging the only medical centre in Daraa city, which is now out of service. Apart from this, the SOHR activists reported the arrival of Russian reinforcements to support government troops. Russia supports the Syrian regime led by President Bashar Al-Assad and has been trying to settle the Daraa issue.
Also Read: A Decade Later, the Syrian Nightmare is Far from Over
The SOHR also stated that opposition forces retaliated by launching several counterattacks across many parts of Daraa and captured several military posts, killing eight Syrian and allied military fighters. “Gunmen also captured more than 15 members of the regime forces in Daraa’s western and eastern countryside,” it said.
Daraa was one of the provinces where massive protests erupted in 2011 against the Assad regime as part of the wider Arab Spring revolts in the Middle East. Since then, Daraa has seen brutal fighting between Syrian forces and rebels. In 2017, reports suggested that much of Daraa had been reduced to rubble due to relentless bombing by Syrian regime jets. Daraa was recaptured from the rebels by the Russian-backed Syrian army and allies in 2018. However, the Syrian regime is not in complete control of the city, resulting in regular tit-for-tat bombings and assassinations between the regime and the opposition.
Since 2011, the brutal conflict in Syria has killed close to 400,000 people, forced more than five million to flee as refugees, and displaced another six million within the nation’s borders. The United Nations (UN) estimates suggest that today, more than 13 million people require humanitarian assistance in Syria, along with 90% of all children in the country. Though Assad has managed to cling to power since the war began in 2011, prospects for lasting peace in the country remain dim, with no progress in peace talks or the UN-led efforts to draft a new constitution for the nation.