Syria army says 'redeploying' in southern Daraa, Sweida provinces

DAMASCUS — Syria's army said it was redeploying in two southern provinces on Saturday, after a war monitor reported government forces had lost control of most of Daraa province, the cradle of the country's 2011 uprising.

 

"Our forces operating in Daraa and Sweida are redeploying and repositioning, and establishing a... security cordon in that direction after terrorist elements attacked remote army checkpoints," the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said in a statement carried by state media.

 

On Friday evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said local factions had taken control of more than 90 percent of Daraa, including the eponymous city.

 

In neighbouring Sweida, the Britain-based monitor and local media said the governor, the police and prison chiefs, and the local ruling Baath Party leader had left their offices as local fighters took control of several checkpoints.

 

The army's statement said it was "beginning to regain control in Homs and Hama provinces in the face of terrorist organisations", as rebels who launched a stunning offensive last week, taking key cities Aleppo and Hama, battled troops near Homs.

 

Sweida is the heartland of Syria's Druze minority and has witnessed anti-government demonstrations for more than a year.

 

Damascus has turned a blind eye to tens of thousands of Druze men refusing to undertake compulsory military service. The vast majority of them have not taken up arms against the government.

 

Daraa province, meanwhile, was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule, but it returned to government control in 2018 under a ceasefire deal brokered by Assad ally Russia.

 

Former rebels there who accepted the 2018 deal were able to keep their light weapons.

 

Daraa province has been plagued by unrest in recent years, with frequent attacks, armed clashes and assassinations, some claimed by the Daesh terror group.

 

Meanwhile, a source close to Lebanon's Hizbollah said Saturday the group sent 2,000 fighters into Syria near the border.

 

"Hizbollah sent 2,000 fighters to the Qusayr area... to defend its positions there and has not yet participated in any battles" with Syrian rebels, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

 

The source said Hizbollah sent 150 military advisers to help government forces defend Homs if fighting erupts there.