Syrian jets bomb Dara’a safe zone

This week’s clashes are among the worst violations of the so-called de-escalation agreement

Syrian government forces carried out a series of air strikes yesterday on a city in southern Syria that has been declared a safe zone under a recent Russiasponsored deal, opposition activists and an independent monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces carried out at least 12 air strikes and dropped at least nine barrel bombs on rebel-held parts of Dara’a as intense clashes with rebels, including members of the Al Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, continued in the city’s Manshiyeh neighbourhood.

The monitoring group added that at least two rockets were launched by government forces in the area.

The activist-run Step News Agency and Qasioun News Agency also reported clashes and shelling in the southern city. Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish the zones in Syria, signing on to a Russian plan under which President Bashar Al Assad’s air force would halt flights over designated areas across the war-torn country.

This week’s clashes are among the worst violations The Syrian army said yesterday it had killed Daesh’s ‘minister of war’ in Syria during operations in the north of the country. If confirmed, this would represent a major blow against Daesh ahead of an attack which the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters — are expected to launch against the terrorists in their stronghold of Raqqa city.

Abu Musab Al Masri was among 13 senior Daesh figures killed in Syrian army operations east of Aleppo, including men identified as Saudi and Iraqi nationals, according to a Syrian military source cited by state media. of the so-called de-escalation agreement.

Intense clashes in Dara’a began on Monday between government forces and rebels with both sides shelling parts of the southern city. Dara’a, where protests against Al Assad’s rule first began in March 2011, is one of four “de-escalation zones” announced earlier this month during ceasefire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Russia’s defence minister, meanwhile, said the deal to set up the zones is “the main document to end Syria’s civil war.”