Russian military jets have launched airstrikes against rebel-held territory in southern Syria, killing at least 150 civilians and displacing another 320,000.
This region, near the borders of Jordan and Israel, is one of the last rebel-held strongholds in Syria. This region is also part of a “de-escalation zone” that the Syrian regime and its Russian allies had agreed to with Jordan and the United States last July.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that there had been 600 Russian airstrikes in the area over a 15-hour period. Rebel commanders in the territory said that in addition to the airstrikes, they had been hit by barrel bombs and rocket barrages.
Besides being one of the last rebel-held regions in Syria, the city of Deraa, which is a focus of the attack, controls a major trade route between Syria and Jordan. Syrian state television reported that the regime’s army would move southward to the east of Deraa, dividing the rebel territory in half.
The attack on this region was also a violation of a de-escalation agreement that Syria and Russia signed with Jordan and the U.S. in July 2017. Jordan, understandably, had not wanted to deal with a war just above its northern border.
At the time, Trump had tweeted that the cease-fire would “save lives,” and that it was “time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!”
...We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Syrian ceasefire seems to be holding. Many lives can be saved. Came out of meeting. Good!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
The Assad regime has a track record of ignoring cease-fires during this war. This was the fourth cease-fire deal that the Syrian government had agreed to. Before this, the longest cease-fire was violated after five months, and the shortest after just eight days.
The Syrian civil war began in March 2011. Anti-government rebels had tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Assad responded brutally, launching chemical weapons attacks against civilians in an attempt to defeat the rebels.
While he has been largely condemned by the international community, Assad has been supported by Iran and Russia. The latter alliance in particular has given the government an edge against the rebel forces, since anti-Assad nations have largely stayed out of the conflict.
As of March, 511,000 civilians had been killed in this war, and an additional 6.5 million had been displaced. Eighty-five percent of all civilian casualties were estimated to have been caused by the Assad regime, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The United Nations has urged Jordan to accept 60,000 of the newly displaced Syrian refugees who are gathering at its border. Jordan is already providing refuge for 650,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war. So far, Jordan has refused to take the new influx of refugees, but Jordan and Israel have sent supplies into Syria to help them.
On Wednesday, Jordan tried to broker peace talks between Russian military officials and rebels around Deraa, but these talks ultimately broke down.
