The Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes engaged in fierce fighting with rebels close to the border with Jordan, residents and opposition fighters said. The clashes on Wednesday – which involved Russian air strikes on Western-backed rebel groups – came as the Syrian government attempts to capture Sheikh Maskin, an area crucial to its attempts at gaining control of southern Deraa province.
The Syrian offensive was the first by the government in southern Syria since Russian forces entered the war in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September. “The army is making progress with heavy Russian aerial bombing. The raids are not stopping.
We have had over 40 raids in the last 24 hours alone,” rebel commander Abu Alaa al-Haurani told the Reuters news agency. Haurani is a member of al-Failaq al-Awal, part of the Southern Front alliance of 54 rebel groups fighting as part of the Free Syrian Army. Syria’s army said that it had made advances overnight against the rebels it said were mainly al-Qaeda-inspired groups.
