Damascus Proposes Settlement in Daraa after ‘Tense Night’

A Syrian opposition flag is erected at the Syrian-Jordanian border at the Nassib crossing in Daraa province in August 2017. (Reuters)
A Syrian opposition flag is erected at the Syrian-Jordanian border at the Nassib crossing in Daraa province in August 2017. (Reuters)
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Damascus Proposes Settlement in Daraa after ‘Tense Night’

A Syrian opposition flag is erected at the Syrian-Jordanian border at the Nassib crossing in Daraa province in August 2017. (Reuters)
A Syrian opposition flag is erected at the Syrian-Jordanian border at the Nassib crossing in Daraa province in August 2017. (Reuters)

An agreement is imminent in the city of Daraa in southern Syria, after a tense night on Tuesday, especially in Daraa Al-Balad which saw heavy bombardment by the forces of the Fourth Division, following the failure of negotiations and the visit of the Syrian Minister of Defense to the city.

Sources close to the Central Negotiating Committee told Asharq Al-Awsat that Russian officials called the committee in Daraa al-Balad to a negotiating session on Tuesday morning, with the announcement of a 24-hour ceasefire. The Russians called on all parties to submit proposals for a radical solution in the city after Monday’s failed negotiations.

According to the sources, the forces of the Fourth Division bombarded, in an unprecedented manner, the city of Daraa al-Balad at midnight on Tuesday, amid attempts to storm besieged neighborhoods. The attempts were resisted by the locals.

The regime forces also targeted with anti-aircraft weapons the town of Muzayrib and Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa governorate. A number of shells fell in the vicinity of the irrigation point between the towns of Yaduda and Muzayrib, where military forces belonging to the Fourth Division are deployed.

The violent attacks came after the negotiations between the central committees and the Syrian regime forces faltered. The Syrian Defense Minister visited Daraa on Monday and threatened to storm the area if the army’s demands were rejected.

“We will restore the authority of the state over the entire Syrian territory and we will not allow anyone to bear arms outside the state. Either our demands are implemented or we storm the region by force,” Minister Ali Ayoub was quoted as saying.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Russian officers were upset with the statements and asked the minister to return to Damascus, so he left the meeting.

Local fighters attacked military positions of the Syrian regime in the city of Nawa in the western countryside of Daraa, in support of Daraa al-Balad, on Tuesday night, while youths blocked the Damascus-Daraa International Highway, which connects to the Nassib border crossing with Jordan.



Rubio Says US Hostage Envoy’s Direct Meeting with Hamas Was ‘One-Off’

Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Rubio Says US Hostage Envoy’s Direct Meeting with Hamas Was ‘One-Off’

Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler speaks during a US hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (AFP)

President Donald Trump's hostage envoy Adam Boehler's direct meetings with Palestinian militant group Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza was a "one-off situation" and as of now "hasn't borne fruit," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

"That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so," Rubio told reporters en route to Saudi Arabia.

"As of now, it hasn't borne fruit. Doesn't mean he was wrong to try, but our primary vehicle for negotiations on this front will continue to be Mr. Witkoff and the work he's doing through Qatar," Rubio said, in reference to Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

The discussions between Boehler and Hamas broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups the US brands as terrorist organizations.

A senior Hamas official on Sunday told Reuters that the meetings between Hamas leaders and Boehler in recent days focused on the release of an American-Israeli dual national being held by the group in Gaza.

Boehler told CNN on Sunday that the talks were "very helpful" and, in an interview with Israel's N12 TV channel, he said that the Trump administration was focused on getting all the remaining 59 hostages out and ending the war.

Witkoff told reporters at the White House last week that gaining the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old from New Jersey believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, was a "top priority for us".

Hamas carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering an Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.