Fighting in Daraa al-Balad continued to escalate Thursday, into some of the heaviest fighting in years in southern Syria. The Syrian military is pushing into the city with an eye toward disarming the rebels, and are shelling the area.
The rebels, for their part, are attacking military outposts int he area, firing mortars at them. This has led the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to seize villages near the Jordan border, and contest some key towns.
This fighting broke out Wednesday, after about a month of the city being under siege by the Syrian military, and fresh off reports Tuesday that a deal had been made to end the crisis. The deal was meant to see the FSA hand over light arms, and Syria send its reinforcements back to base, and disarm the pro-government militias in the area.
The deal fell apart when instead of a large number of light arms the government was given about 60 broken guns. Other rebels openly refused to hand over their arms, saying they didn’t believe the deal was sincere.
The rebels now say they’ve killed a number of government fighters, captured at least 70 others, and are overrunning checkpoints. This area was meant to be under government control after a deal years ago. Most of the rebels didn’t evacuate from that district, and seem to have been preparing for an eventual confrontation.
Reports are that civilians have been killed in the fighting, though exact numbers are unclear. Artillery fire has hit residential areas within Daraa al-Balad, however, and is adding to the pressure for locals who have been unable to flee, and have nowhere to really go.
Free Syrian Army? One could expect more creative war mongering from democrats. Using stale Free Syrian Army tired label — shows weariness of our Syrian presence. Infiltrating fighters from Jordan — nothing simpler. But it cannot last, as there is no population support. Any foreign inserted fighting cannot be sustained. But it is preventing Syria from getting control if its borders. US is hugging Jordanian border with Syria, Israel, Golan Heights, and US good chunk if Iraqi border. Russia and Turkey, Turkish border. As Iraq made more efforts in controlling border, it may be harder for US and Israel to justify chasing mythical Iranians there. As Iraq is less receptive to US military operations, what remains? Jordan. Al-Tanf base straddles border. And now infiltrations.
It is AMAZING given how many domestic problems we have that the elites are wasting money and human resources on inventing ways to meddle in other countries. It is a disease of sorts — money greed combined with fanaticism. But nobody really cares.