Syrian Army Steps Up Attacks in Southwest
DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian army stepped up shelling of opposition-held parts of the southwest as it mobilizes for a campaign to regain the area bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, opposition sources said.
Violence erupted at the frontline town of Kafr Shams, near the Syrian-held Golan Heights, and further east in the town of Busra al Harir, which was struck by dozens of mortars from nearby army positions, the sources said.
Syrian state media said terrorists had escalated attacks on civilians in the area which is part of a "de-escalation” zone agreed by the United States and Russia last year with the aim of containing the conflict in the southwest.
An offensive in the southwest would risk a major escalation of the seven-year-old war. The area is of strategic importance to the Zionist regime. Washington has warned it will take "firm and appropriate measures” in response to violations of the "de-escalation” deal.
Terrorists have boosted their numbers in the area.
Elite government troops known as the "Tiger” force, which have spearheaded a campaign that recaptured the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, have also been mobilized for the attack.
The pro-Damascus newspaper al-Watan said there were "growing indications about preparations for the start of a wide military operation to liberate” the south.
In another development in Syria, the U.S.-led coalition in Syria said on Tuesday it had disrupted Daesh terrorist group’s funding by killing the man who ran its oil and gas network and other members of the group last month.
"The death of these (Daesh) members hinders the terrorist group’s ability to finance operations throughout Iraq and Syria ... the ability to pay fighters, procure weapons, and maintain equipment will be degraded,” it said in a statement.
The coalition said it killed the oil and gas network leader Abu Khattab al-Iraqi and three other Daesh members on May 26 in the "Middle Euphrates River valley”.
Violence erupted at the frontline town of Kafr Shams, near the Syrian-held Golan Heights, and further east in the town of Busra al Harir, which was struck by dozens of mortars from nearby army positions, the sources said.
Syrian state media said terrorists had escalated attacks on civilians in the area which is part of a "de-escalation” zone agreed by the United States and Russia last year with the aim of containing the conflict in the southwest.
An offensive in the southwest would risk a major escalation of the seven-year-old war. The area is of strategic importance to the Zionist regime. Washington has warned it will take "firm and appropriate measures” in response to violations of the "de-escalation” deal.
Terrorists have boosted their numbers in the area.
Elite government troops known as the "Tiger” force, which have spearheaded a campaign that recaptured the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, have also been mobilized for the attack.
The pro-Damascus newspaper al-Watan said there were "growing indications about preparations for the start of a wide military operation to liberate” the south.
In another development in Syria, the U.S.-led coalition in Syria said on Tuesday it had disrupted Daesh terrorist group’s funding by killing the man who ran its oil and gas network and other members of the group last month.
"The death of these (Daesh) members hinders the terrorist group’s ability to finance operations throughout Iraq and Syria ... the ability to pay fighters, procure weapons, and maintain equipment will be degraded,” it said in a statement.
The coalition said it killed the oil and gas network leader Abu Khattab al-Iraqi and three other Daesh members on May 26 in the "Middle Euphrates River valley”.