Syrian missiles rain on rebels in southern area

Opposition fighters, families are bused from Daraa to Idlib

 This Thursday, July 5, 2018 file photo provided by Nabaa Media, a Syrian opposition media outlet, shows smoke rising over buildings that were hit by Syrian government forces bombardment, in Daraa province, southern Syria.  (Nabaa Media via AP, File)
This Thursday, July 5, 2018 file photo provided by Nabaa Media, a Syrian opposition media outlet, shows smoke rising over buildings that were hit by Syrian government forces bombardment, in Daraa province, southern Syria. (Nabaa Media via AP, File)

Syrian government forces unleashed hundreds of missiles on a rebel-held area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, activists said, the latest phase in an offensive to clear southern Syria of insurgents.

The government's push came after it had secured control of most of Daraa province in an offensive that began in June. On Sunday, the first batch of armed fighters and their families left Daraa city, the provincial capital, in buses that would take them to the rebel-held Idlib province in the north.

Similar deals in other parts of Syria resulted in the evacuation of thousands of opposition fighters and civilians -- evacuations that the United Nations and rights groups have decried as forced displacement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Sunday that the success in driving the opposition out of Daraa embodies the will of his army and allied forces to "liberate all of Syrian territories" of "terrorism."

In recent months and backed by Russian air force, the Syrian government has restored control of more than 60 percent of previously rebel-held territory across the country.

Assad spoke during a meeting Sunday with visiting Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hossein Jaberi Ansari. Assad's office said the two agreed that the "elimination of terrorism in most of the Syrian territory has laid the most appropriate ground to reach results at the political level" that could put an end to Syria's war.

Syria's government refers to all armed opposition groups as "terrorists" and accuses the West, Turkey, Israel and regional countries of supporting them.

The statement came a day before President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are to meet in Finland. Syria is expected to feature highly on the agenda. Russia is a major Assad ally.

In Daraa, the evacuation deal will hand over areas held by the rebels for years back to government control. Daraa, which lies on a highway linking Damascus with Jordan, was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Assad.

Daraa activist Abou Mahmoud Hourani said an estimated 400 members of the armed opposition and their families will be evacuated out of Daraa. Syrian state TV al-Ikhbariya said 10 buses carrying 407 people left for northern Syria. The station said the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people will likely be completed by Sunday.

Since early Sunday, government forces turned their missiles toward a stretch of land controlled by the armed opposition in northern Daraa and the countryside of adjacent Quneitra.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces fired more than 800 missiles at an area between northern Daraa and the Quneitra countryside, about 2.5 miles from the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Observatory said government forces advanced on Massharah, a village in Quneitra, and rebels fought back in intense clashes that killed several pro-government fighters. The pro-Syrian government Central Military Media said a number of insurgents were killed in the clashes.

The Observatory reported airstrikes in Massharah, the first in over a year to hit the Quneitra countryside. It also reported airstrikes in a nearby village in northern Daraa, where government forces have been trying to retake a key hill after failing to reach a deal with the rebels. Capturing the hill would enable them to advance on militants in the area linked to the Islamic State group.

Elsewhere in Syria, a U.S-backed group said the withdrawal of a Kurdish militia from a strategic northern town has been completed, removing a major source of tension between Washington and Ankara.

Turkey considers the People's Protection Units as terrorists. But Washington has relied on the group to battle the Islamic State group in Syria.

An agreement last month between Turkey and the U.S. announced that the militia will leave Manbij, west of the Euphrates river.

The Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council said Sunday was the last day for People's Protection Units advisers, who had stayed in Manbij for two years, to train its forces. The withdrawal began in June.

According to Turkish officials, Washington is expected take back arms it has provided to the group and conduct joint patrols with Turkey.

Information for this article was contributed by Albert Aji of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/16/2018

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