AMMAN: Only between 150 and 200 people remained Sunday in the immediate vicinity of Syria’s border with Jordan having fled a Syrian regime offensive to retake Daraa province, the United Nations said Sunday.
“Around 150 to 200 people right now at the border,” Anders Pedersen, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, told a news conference in Amman.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, tens of thousands have returned home in southern Syria since a cease-fire deal announced Friday between regime ally Russia and rebels to end more than two weeks of deadly bombardment.
While expressing caution with the figures, Pederson said: “The only thing we know is that we have a very high number of IDPs (displaced) throughout the southwest” of Syria.
He said the United Nations was on standby with convoys to provide aid to the displaced.
“We keep on repeating our appeal to the partners, to the parties of the conflict on the ground in Syria, to please allow us access,” he said.
Since June 19, a deadly regime bombardment campaign on Daraa province had caused more than 320,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations, to the sealed border with Jordan and the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan.
Number of displaced from Syria’s Daraa on Jordan border plunges: UN
Number of displaced from Syria’s Daraa on Jordan border plunges: UN
- Syrian Observatory says tens of thousands have returned home in southern Syria
Syrian and Lebanese presidents discuss border security after Hezbollah strikes hit west Damascus
- Ahmad Al-Sharaa expresses Syria’s absolute support for Lebanese government’s efforts to disarm the Iran-backed militant group
LONDON: The Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, and his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun, discussed border security on Tuesday.
It came as Syria accused the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah of massing reinforcements close to the border, targeting army positions in Syria, and launching artillery shells from Lebanese territory that landed near the town of Serghaya, west of the capital Damascus.
During his conversation with Aoun, Al-Sharaa expressed his absolute support for the Lebanese government’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported. Depriving the group of its weapons was a crucial step in efforts to strengthen the sovereignty of Lebanon and protect the region from the consequences of ongoing armed conflicts, he added.
The two leaders also emphasized the need for joint action to ensure the safety of the Syrian people.
Thousands of Syrians who fled to Lebanon to escape the 13-year civil war in their country have returned home since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, and the spread of the conflict to other parts of the Middle East.
Israel has launched strikes against Israel and several Arab countries in the region, while Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran which the UK and other nations consider a terrorist organization, has also fired into Israel.
Israeli forces have hit back against Hezbollah with strikes on southern Lebanon and southern Beirut, and its forces have occupied key areas south of the Litani River.
