Efforts to Save Russian Map in Southern Syria After It Faltered in Daraa

 A member of the Free Syrian Army gestures as he stands on a tank after they captured the military Brigade 52 base in Daraa, Syria June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir
A member of the Free Syrian Army gestures as he stands on a tank after they captured the military Brigade 52 base in Daraa, Syria June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir
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Efforts to Save Russian Map in Southern Syria After It Faltered in Daraa

 A member of the Free Syrian Army gestures as he stands on a tank after they captured the military Brigade 52 base in Daraa, Syria June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir
A member of the Free Syrian Army gestures as he stands on a tank after they captured the military Brigade 52 base in Daraa, Syria June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir

Efforts intensified on Wednesday to save the “Russian map” after the failure to implement an agreement reached by the Central Negotiating Committee in Daraa al-Balad with the Syrian regime delegation under the auspices of Russia, with the participation of the Fifth Division.

The official spokesman and representative of the Central Negotiating Committee in Daraa al-Balad, Adnan al-Masalma, announced on Wednesday the failure of the agreement reached by the committee with the negotiating parties, after two persons, who were requested to leave Daraa al-Balad, refused to be displaced.

The two wanted persons had pledged before the city’s clans to leave the region and accept displacement, which paved the way for an agreement with the Russian side and the Security Committee. But they suddenly went back on their decision, which led to the resumption of military actions.

The two people are Mohammad al-Masalma and Moaied Harfoush, who are two former leaders of the opposition factions in southern Syria in the city of Daraa al-Balad. They are accused by the Syrian regime of forming armed groups in the city.

As a result, the Russian military police and the Fifth Division forces withdrew on Tuesday night from the point they established in the city of Daraa al-Balad, which according to the agreement, was supposed to be a permanent base for monitoring the ceasefire agreement.

The first phase of the agreement included the halt of military operations in Daraa al-Balad, with the entry of the Russian military police and the withdrawal of the groups affiliated with Masalma and Harfoush. In parallel, the Fifth Division would ensure the withdrawal of the Fourth Division’s forces from the vicinity of the besieged area south of Daraa al-Balad.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Daraa al-Balad Committee and the city’s dignitaries and clans demanded the two men to immediately leave the city and to be held accountable “for all the repercussions resulting from their intransigence.”

A wave of criticisms targeted Masalma as a result of his contradictory positions, after he accepted the displacement on Tuesday, to later demand the withdrawal of the Fourth Division from the southern areas of Daraa al-Balad as a condition for leaving the city.

A videotape broadcast by activists in the city of Daraa showed Syrian regime forces shooting on Tuesday evening at the people of Daraa al-Balad as they gathered at the Saraya crossing between Daraa al-Mahatta and Daraa al-Balad.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Syrian regime forces closed the crossing again after shooting at the residents, and stopped the bus that was carrying eight dissidents from the Syrian army from the city of Daraa Al-Balad, who had rejected the settlement.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.