According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a child died and a man who was escorting him was injured after an old landmine exploded near Tafas city in the countryside of western Daraa. SOHR has documented the deaths of 431 people, including 143 children since January 2019, which occurred due to mines, IED explosions and the collapse of cracked residential buildings in the Syrian territory in Homs, Hama, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and the south of the country.
Syria’s southern province, Daraa, is held by the government due to an agreement between the Syrian regime and Russia with rebel leaders to allow local control in exchange for the dismantling of opposition forces, the surrendering of heavy weapons and for allowing a limited return of state-provided services. The agreement was generally honoured despite more than 380 deaths in Daraa being reported by the European Research Institute since 2018. However, the agreement began to deteriorate in the second half of 2020 and almost collapsed in January of this year when the Syrian regime claimed that ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated sleeper cells of Hurras a-Din had conducted several assassinations against its personnel in Daraa.
While a planned offensive operation by the Syrian Arab Army to reconquer the area was cancelled after Russia gained more concessions for the Syrian regime’s local leaders, Atlantic Council reports that further clashes could occur in Daraa as a result of deteriorating living conditions in Syria combined with challenges specific to the Daraa province.
To know more, please read:
https://www.syriahr.com/en/204873/
Author: Irina Kovacevic; Editor: Catherine Meunier
