Activists: Airstrike on shelter kills 17 in Syria

BEIRUT — A barrage of airstrikes hit rebel-held areas in southwestern Syria on Thursday, killing at least 17 civilians hiding in an underground shelter and triggering a new wave of displacement as government forces pressed their offensive to reclaim a region that was until recently part of a U.S.-backed and negotiated truce, activists and officials said Thursday.

The strategic southwestern corner of Syria extends from the border with Jordan in the south to the western frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It also lies south of the capital Damascus and has been under a so-called de-escalation agreement reached between Russia, the main government ally, the United States and Jordan in July last year.

The truce unravelled in recent weeks, displacing nearly 50,000 people within southwestern Daraa province and along the border with Jordan.

Aid groups have urged Jordan to allow Syrians fleeing the violence into the country.

On Thursday, activists and a U.N. official said tens of thousands of newly displaced are reported to have fled the government bombardment in western Daraa, the area adjacent to Quneitra where the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are located.

Linda Tom, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said unconfirmed local reports suggest a “very large number” — estimated at 50,000 people — were displaced Thursday from Nawa, one of the largest towns in western Daraa.