Syrian rebels hit by new wave of attacks

SYRIAN and Russian forces have launched a wave of air strikes against rebel-held areas in the south-west and pushed into a major town, resuming a widescale offensive after negotiations between Russia and the rebels collapsed.

The government’s advance in the southern Daraa province, which began on June 19, has captured wide areas and forced an estimated 330,000 people to flee their homes.

Opposition activists claim scores of civilians have been killed.

State news agency SANA said Syrian troops entered the southern town of Saida after intense clashes with rebels, many of whom later withdrew to the nearby village of Taiba. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported some 600 air strikes in Daraa province, including on rebel-held parts of the contested provincial capital of the same name.

The Observatory said that with the capture of Saida, Syrian troops are now about four miles from the Naseeb border crossing with Jordan, one of the main goals of the offensive.

The opposition’s first responders said they evacuated the wounded from Daraa and nearby villages.

The latest wave of attacks comes after a four-day pause during which rebels negotiated with the Russians about how to end the violence. A WOMAN protesting against US immigration policy climbed the Statue of Liberty’s base and forced the monument’s evacuation. Therese Okoumou engaged in a four-hour standoff with police before being taken into custody.