Syria forces retake Jordan crossing
beirut — Syria’s regime and its Russian ally on Friday took control of a key southern border post with Jordan, a monitor said, more than three years after it was seized by rebels.
“Cars carrying Russian military police and representatives of the Syrian government’s border administration entered the Nassib crossing without a fight,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The move came as rebels said they were close to a deal with Moscow over a handover of territory in southern Syria, two weeks after the launch of a Russian-backed regime offensive.
Earleir, a war monitor said troops in Daraa province reached the frontier on Thursday for the first time since 2015, part of a major offensive to capture the southwest from insurgents.
The commander in the regional alliance that backs Damascus said that the army and allies had arrived after seizing a string of villages. “Within a short period of time, they will reach the (Nassib) crossing,” the non-Syrian commander said, speaking on condition of anonimity.
With the help of Russian air power, the assault has swept into swathes of Daraa over the past two weeks.
The UN refugee agency has urged Jordan to open its borders as Syrians flee the battles and heavy air strikes en masse. It says fighting has uprooted more than 320,000 people, with 60,000 gathered at the Jordan border crossing and thousands more at the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan heights. The Norwegian Refugee Council has called it the largest displacement of Syria’s seven-year war.
Ibrahim Jabawi, a rebel official, said the insurgents and Russians started a new round of talks over the southwest on Friday.
The UK-based group said an armed faction which held some border villages had handed control over to the advancing troops without resistance.
A military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fights alongside Damascus, said the army captured eight border outposts on Friday.
The forces have taken most of the towns and villages in eastern Daraa, including a few where insurgents had surrendered, it said.
Hezbollah is helping lead the offensive but keeping a low profile, pro-Damascus sources said, defying Israel’s demands that Iranbacked forces stay away.
Both Israel and Jordan, which beefed up their borders, said they would not let refugees in but distributed aid inside Syria.
Jordan said it had convinced the Syrian opposition and the Russians to meet again for talks.