Syria’s main political opposition condemned the brutal aerial and ground bombardment of Daraa province by Assad regime forces and their allies, stressing that it constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Syrian National Coalition said that the regime’s campaign is being carried out with the direct support of Russia, a guarantor country of the ceasefire agreement, placing the truce at risk of total collapse.
Regime forces, backed by Russian air forces and Iranian-backed militias, have committed at least 80 breaches of the ceasefire agreement in the past three days, including over 30 breaches in Daraa city and its countryside. These breaches have resulted in massacres which claimed the lives of at least 47 people, mostly civilians.
Regime forces and their allies have launched a campaign to punish Daraa and its countryside, bombing the Free Syrian Army-held areas with rockets and heavy artillery. The bombardment has mainly targeted residential areas of the city and FSA-held towns and villages, chiefly the towns of Tafas, Tell Shihab, Al-Harra, Bosra al-Sham, Al-Musayfirah as well as most of the towns and villages in the Lajat area in eastern rural Daraa.
The Coalition stressed the need for the international community and the UN Security Council “to exert pressure on the regime’s allies to force it to abide by the truce and the relevant international resolutions as a new round of negotiations in Geneva starts in a few days. These negotiations will be doomed to fail if the regime’s violations of the truce continue.”
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
