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Syrian govt regains control of three southern provinces: Moscow
MOSCOW, Aug 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Russian army on Thursday said the Syrian government
had recaptured three of the country’s southern provinces from rebels and jihadists, and
regained control of the border zone with Jordan.
“Syrian forces, supported by Russian aviation, liquidated (Islamic State) and former
al-Nusra groups and retook control of Sweida, Daraa and Quneitra,” Russian army general
Sergei Rudskoy said at a briefing in Moscow.
He praised the “unique operation” that allowed Syrian forces to retake “3,332 square
kilometres” of territory from jihadist and rebel groups.
The Moscow-supported Damascus regime “entirely retook control of the border between
Syria and Jordan”, Rudskoy said.
He added that “conditions have been created for the resumption of the activities of UN
peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights” near the border with Israel.
Russia, which intervened military in Syria on the side of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in
2015, will deploy “eight military police observation posts” in order “to prevent possible
provocations.”
More than seven years since the conflict began, regime forces have managed to retake
entire regions from rebels and jihadists and now control nearly two-thirds of the country.
Syrian troops are supported military by their Russian and Iranian allies, as well as by
Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Iraqi, Iranian and Afghan militiamen.
BSS/AFP/PI/1855