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WASHINGTON: The US has warned Damascus it will take \u201cfirm\u201d action if the regime of Bashar al-Assad violates a ceasefire deal, after Syrian aircraft dropped leaflets on a southern province ahead of an expected offensive, reports AFP.<\/p>\nWASHINGTON: The US has warned Damascus it will take \u201cfirm\u201d action if the regime of Bashar al-Assad violates a ceasefire deal, after Syrian aircraft dropped leaflets on a southern province ahead of an expected offensive, reports AFP.<\/p>\n
Residents of Daraa told AFP Friday that several different leaflets were scattered across the province, which has borders with Israel and Jordan and is expected to be among the next targets in the resurgent regime\u2019s reconquest.<\/p>\n
One of them, seen by a journalist contributing to AFP in the city of Daraa, includes a picture showing lined up bodies, presumably of anti-government fighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the inevitable fate of anyone who insists on carrying arms,\u201d reads the leaflet.<\/p>\n
The US State Department issued a statement late Friday saying it was \u201cconcerned\u201d by the reports and that the area in question was within the boundaries of a de-escalation zone it had negotiated with Russia and Jordan last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also caution the Syrian regime against any actions that risk broadening the conflict or jeopardize the ceasefire,\u201d said spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that the ceasefire had been re-affirmed by President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Vietnam in November. \u201cAs a guarantor of this de-escalation area with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad regime violations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Syrian regime and allied forces on Monday retook the Yarmuk area in southern Damascus, giving President Bashar al-Assad full control of the capital and its surroundings for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n
Daraa\u2019s location makes any broad operation there very sensitive, with Israel suspecting Damascus\u2019 Iranian allies of seeking to establish a military footprint closer to its borders.<\/p>\n
Government and allied forces control about 30 percent of Daraa, the rest of which is held by various factions, including a small contingent of fighters from the Islamic State jihadist group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: The US has warned Damascus it will take \u201cfirm\u201d action if the regime of Bashar al-Assad violates a ceasefire deal, after Syrian aircraft dropped leaflets on a southern province ahead of an expected offensive, reports AFP. Residents of Daraa told AFP Friday that several different leaflets were scattered across the province, which has borders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n