BEIRUT: Syrian regime shelling on an opposition-held southern region has killed at least six civilians, hours after US warning not to jeopardize talks on the area's fate, a monitoring group said Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the casualties, who included two children, were killed in shelling on two villages in the north of Daraa province.
The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a large network of sources inside Syria, said the shelling came from army positions that had recently received reinforcements.
The US State Department had on Thursday warned Damascus against any military action that could scupper ongoing talks aimed at finding a settlement for the complex southern front.
“We reiterate that any Syrian government military actions against the southwest de-escalation zone risk broadening the conflict,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
“We affirm again that the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Syrian government violations in this area.”
The United States, Russia and Jordan agreed to a de-escalation deal in the southern province, and negotiations are continuing in a bid to reach a deal that would remove the need for a government offensive.
The Observatory said Friday's shelling had caused the highest civilian toll since the de-escalation deal, reached almost a year ago.
The region borders Jordan and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Rebel groups, who still control about two thirds of Daraa, have so far refused to negotiate with the Syrian regime.
In an interview with Iran's Al-Alam television channel earlier this week, Syrian President Bashar Assad said contacts were ongoing between Russia, the US and Israel over the southern front.
“We are giving the political talks a chance, but if they fail, there will be no choice but liberation by force,” he said.
The regime wants rebels to withdraw from the area either by force or under a deal.
Also at stake in the current talks are the future of a US military base in southeastern Syria and the presence of Iranian and allied forces in southern parts of Syria near the border with Israel.
Meanwhile, Assad attended a mosque in the country's west on Friday for prayers marking the end of Ramadan, in a rare appearance outside Damascus, images on his social media showed.
“President Assad performs the Eid Al-Fitr prayer at the Sayyida Khadija Mosque in the city of Tartus,” a caption read.
In one picture, he was seen praying alongside the country's top Muslim cleric and its Islamic endowments minister.
Another image showed him surrounded by dozens of worshippers who appeared to be offering him Eid greetings.
Assad has rarely appeared in public outside Damascus since Syria's conflict broke out more than six years ago.
The coastal city of Tartus is the site of a naval base belonging to Assad's key backer Russia, which has helped his forces retake swathes of opposition-held territory.
Like neighboring Latakia province, from which Assad's clan hails, Tartus is a stronghold of his Alawite sect.
The region has largely escaped the destruction that has blighted other areas of Syria but it has suffered a heavy human toll from military service in the conflict that has killed 350,000 people since 2011.
Russian and Iranian-backed regime forces now control around 60 percent of Syrian territory.
Syrian regime’s shelling kills 6 civilians; Assad appears at mosque near capital
Syrian regime’s shelling kills 6 civilians; Assad appears at mosque near capital
- Russian and Iranian-backed regime forces now control around 60 percent of Syrian territory
- The Observatory said Friday's shelling had caused the highest civilian toll since the de-escalation deal, reached almost a year ago
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
