The Assad regime and Russian air forces pummeled northwestern rural Dara’a in the early morning hours of Monday, causing civilian casualties. Activists said that the Assad regime stepped up the use of barrel bombs and cluster munitions to force rebel fighters to surrender.
Local activists said that Russian airstrikes killed three civilians and injured many others in the village of Aqraba. Activists in Al-Harra said that residential areas in the town came under shelling by rockets and cluster munitions.
Russian jets carried out about 75 airstrikes on Tal al-Harra hill, the highest hilltop in the area, in the past 24 hours, according to local activists. Assad’s helicopters dropped at least 48 barrel bombs on the strategic hilltop.
The Syrian Coalition last week expressed its disappointment at the failure of the UN Security Council to condemn the crimes of genocide and mass forced displacement in Dara’a province.
The Coalition also voiced its disappointment at the “failure of the Council’s permanent members to assume their responsibilities in this regard, including the United States, which was a guarantor state but which later renounced its commitments and left the Syrian people and easy prey for the Russian-Iranian brutal onslaught.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
The Coalition hinted that the US-led anti-ISIS coalition was ignoring the crimes of Iranian terrorist militias and their growing threat in different areas. The US-led anti-ISIS coalition launched airstrikes against civilian targets in eastern Syria last week.
Meanwhile, the plight of people who are stranded on the border with Jordan continued. Tens of thousands of Dara’a residents fled the military operations being carried out by the Assad regime and Russia in the region.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was seeking access to about 210,000 displaced people in Dara’a province who need urgent assistance. It said that “up to 160,000 displaced Syrians currently seeking safety in Quneitra are inaccessible to health partners, raising concerns for their health.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
