Syrian rebels say army besieging their enclave in southern city of Daraa

AMMAN — The Syrian army and allied troops on Monday laid siege to the rebel-held enclave in Daraa and were poised to gain complete control of the city where the uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule first erupted, rebels said.

With its advance on rebel-held parts of Daraa city, the government appeared to be piling military pressure on the insurgents even after they agreed to surrender terms last week, in a major victory for Assad.

The army was also consolidating its grip over the border area with Jordan to the east of Daraa city on Monday. Free Syrian Army rebels (FSA), once backed by the West and Jordan, have mostly handed over the area along with their heavy arms to the government after the surrender deal clinched last Friday.

Backed by Russian air power, the Syrian army and its militias won a strategic victory in a 20-day offensive after they captured Nassib crossing, a vital trade route that insurgents held for three years.

Abu Shaima, a spokesman for the opposition in Daraa, said several thousand people were now encircled after the army pushed into a base west of the city without a fight.

“The army and its militias have besieged Daraa completely,” he told Reuters. 

State media said the army was spreading along the border areas with Jordan and tightening the noose on what they term as “terrorists” but made no mention of the siege of Daraa. 

The return of Daraa to Assad’s complete control would deal a big psychological blow to the opposition since the city came to epitomise the early peaceful protests against authoritarian rule in 2011 that spread across Syria. The protests were violently crushed and paved the way for the bloody civil war.

Surrender deal

The surrender deal reached on Friday between Russian officers and rebel representatives covers Daraa city along with other towns in the southern province, which borders Jordan.

Before the deal, many towns and villages in Daraa province had been forced to agree to return to state control after a major Russian aerial bombing campaign on urban centres that led to the largest displacement of civilians in the more than seven-year-long conflict.

The territorial sweep into Daraa province will allow the army for the first time to take over FSA frontlines with Daesh militants, who occupy the Yarmouk Valley pocket south-west of Daraa along both the Israeli and Jordanian borders, opposition sources said.

“The Russian military police and the army entered Tafas town and secured a corridor through opposition territory to a frontline with Daesh,” a regional intelligence officer said. 

As part of the surrender deal, opposition fighters not ready to make peace with the army must first be allowed to evacuate to opposition-held areas in northern Syria before the handover of weapons and the return of state sovereignty.

“There are fighters who want to go to [opposition-held] Idlib but this was rejected after we were besieged,” said Abu Shamia, referring to a meeting on Sunday in which he said a go-between with the Syrian army had flatly rejected their demands to leave.

The rebels say the deal also does not allow the army to move into their bastions and allows for setting up local forces from ex-rebels under the oversight of Russian military police. 

“There is a lot of fear about the unknown fate that awaits us and we do not trust the Russians or regime,” Shaima said, adding that remaining rebels in Daraa city were still holding their positions on its frontlines.

Another opposition negotiator said a further round of talks with Russian officers was planned on Monday over the fate of Daraa and security arrangements once it returns to state rule.

“We will work with the Russians on setting up a local force from the inhabitants that will prevent the entry of the army to Daraa with Russian guarantees,” Abu Jihad, a negotiator said.