Syrian Regime Forces Attack Deraa Camp for Palestinian Refugees, Violate Truce

Syrian Regime Forces Attack Deraa Camp for Palestinian Refugees, Violate Truce

Russian-backed government troops and allied forces recaptured Deraa in 2018 [File: Mohamad Abazeed/AFP]

The Syrian government forces in Deraa breached an agreement reached on Monday to lift the blockade on the area.

Mortar shells reportedly slammed into residential neighborhoods in Deraa at the same time as a number of civilians were fatally gunned down by snipers. Clashes and injuries were also reported.

Deraa’s sole medical site has gone inoperative after the Syrian regime’s Fourth Division attacked it. Ambulances kept circulating in the area.

Over 50,000 civilians sheltered in Deraa, including hundreds of Palestinian refugees, remain under the threat of a mass genocide by the Syrian regime forces and their war partners.

On Monday, the Central Committee in Deraa city, south of Syria, reached an agreement with the Syrian government to lift the noose tightened around the area and backtrack on any projected military escalation.

As part of the deal, a number of residents and former opposition forces will lay down their personal weapons in return for a security solution, by the Syrian regime, in favor a 130 wanted residents, including 25 Palestinian refugees.

Last week, the Syrian regime attacked Deraa AlBalad, south of Syria, with anti-aircraft guns, forcing dozens of families out of their homes and shelters.

On June 25, the regime forces asked the residents and former opposition forces to lay down all light weapons and allow them to search their homes. However, the Daraa Central Committee, the main reconciliation center in the area, noted that they were only supposed to hand in heavy weapons as part of the Russian-brokered agreement signed in July 2018. The regime then started imposing a blockade on some 40,000 civilians living in the area.

All entrances and exits from the district were blocked, and the transportation of all medical and food assistance, as well as fuel, prohibited.

Daraa-based activists told Anadolu Agency (AA) that another reason for the regime to impose the blockade was because the region’s people had opposed setting up ballot boxes for the regime’s so-called elections.

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