Looming military operation in Daraa | Regime forces and 4th Division boost their posts, as negotiations still impeded
Daraa province: SOHR activists have reported that regime forces and 4th Division, headed by Maher al-Assad who is the brother of the Syrian regime’s president, have brought in large military reinforcement to the Municipal Stadium in Daraa and the 285th Battalion. A group of the recently-arrived reinforcement, including rocket launchers, artillery units and pickup vehicles with submachine guns installed over them, have been deployed in several areas across Daraa. Moreover, hundreds of soldiers have arrived in the region in the past few days, mostly of the 4th Division-backed al-Ghayth Forces, headed by the Brigadier General Ghayyath Dallah.
On the other hand, negotiations on the implementation of the roadmap proposed by the Russians have been stalled for the seventh consecutive day, as the residents of Daraa and the central committees in Hawaran see that the Russian-suggested roadmap including conditions similar to those ones stated by the regime security committee in the beginning of escalation in Daraa, and that these terms do not serve the interests of the residents. In addition, some of the roadmap’s terms are considered humiliating to the people of Daraa.
On August 18, SOHR activists reported that residents in villages and towns across Daraa province, including Jasim, Heit, Tafas and al-Mezeyrib, staged demonstrations, rejecting the terms of the Russian roadmap’s terms.
The demonstrators chanted anti-regime slogans, expressing their discontent over the siege imposed on Daraa al-Balad for over 50 days.
Daraa city is currently struggling with alarming humanitarian situation, amid shortage of bread, food supplies, drinking water, medicine and fuel. Meanwhile, al-Saraya crossing is still closed till today.