BICOM

The UN’s special envoy for Syria has warned that a full-scale regime offensive in southern Syria could inflict an even heavier death toll on civilians than previous devastating battles in the war-ravaged country.

“We see a full-scale ground offensive and aerial bombardment, as well as exchanges of fire from both sides … if there is a full-scale battle to the end, it could be like Aleppo and eastern Ghouta combined together, in terms of populations in the areas affected,” Staffan de Mistura said at a meeting of the UN Security Council yesterday.

The Syrian regime, backed by Russia, has carried out a week of intensive bombings in the countryside of Daraa province, resulting in 50,000 people leaving the area according to the UN. Yesterday, Syrian state media reported that the army is carrying out “intensive strikes” in the south-eastern part of Daraa city, intending to cut the Nusra front’s “movements and supply routes”.

Until last week,  Daraa had been relatively quiet compared to the rest of the country, due to the province being in a so-called “de-escalation zone” agreed between the US, Russia and Jordan last summer. This week the Syrian regime also took control of an abandoned UN post in the no-man’s land between the Israeli and Syrian areas of the Golan Heights, which the IDF said it viewed as a “serious and flagrant violation of the separation-of-forces agreement”.

At the UN, Syrian Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari defended the current offensive, saying it is to combat terrorist groups on its own territory: “When the Syrian army combats terrorism.. can we call this an aggression?”

The UK ‘s Ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, requested that the UNSC hear directly from Syria and Russia about their sincerity in engaging in the UN-led political process and to explain their policies and practices that are creating obstacles to vulnerable displaced people returning home and rebuilding their lives.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday. After the meeting, Bolton denied the US had abandoned its positions on Syria and said they had agreed that US President Donald Trump and Putin will hold a summit shortly.