UN alarmed as Dara’a assault picks up pace

17 CIVILIANS SEEKING REFUGE IN A BOMB SHELTER KILLED IN WORST ATTACK YET

We see a fullscale ground offensive and aerial bombardment, as well as exchanges of fire from both sides.”

The United Nations is warning of a fullscale battle in southwest Syria, saying it could affect a population and an area similar to the battles for eastern Ghouta and for Aleppo combined, and things were now moving in that direction.

United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council that such a battle could increase tensions with Israel and would compromise the small progress being seen in international political talks, which are focused on efforts to set up a constitutional committee.

De Mistura, briefing the United Nations Security Council on setting up a Syrian constitutional committee, said the modest political achievement risked being overtaken by the escalation in fighting.

“We see a full-scale ground offensive and aerial bombardment, as well as exchanges of fire from both sides,” he said, speaking by video link from Geneva.

He warned that the battle could affect a population and an area similar to the total affected by the battles for eastern Ghouta and Aleppo combined, naming perhaps the two biggest and bloodiest campaigns of the seven-year war.

The Security Council could not allow another battle of such magnitude, he added.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Al Ja’afari accused de Mistura of neglecting the fight against terrorism, adding that Daesh fighters were still present in Syria “under the protection of the Americans”.

Al Ja’afari blamed terrorists for attacking residential areas in the south of the country, and said it was the Syrian army’s duty to respond to the attack to protect hundreds

Staffan de Mistura | United Nations Syria envoy

of thousands of civilians. US Deputy Permanent Representative Jonathan Cohen said the predominant opposition force in the area was the Free Syrian Army, not terrorists and not a permitted target designated by the UN.

Violation of ceasefire

“To be clear, the unilateral operations underway by the Al Assad regime and Russia in southwest Syria represent a violation of the ceasefire arrangement reaffirmed by President Trump and President Putin,” Cohen said.

His comments came as a barrage of air strikes hit rebel-held areas in southwestern Syria yesterday, killing at least 17 civilians hiding in an underground shelter.

The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights described yesterday’s air strike in the town of Al Musayfrah in eastern Dara’a as the worst violence since the government offensive began in the area on June 19.