Daraa Sees New Wave of Displacement After Sudden Bombardment on its Western Countryside

 Activists said that more than 25 rockets and shells fell on residential neighborhoods and the popular market in the city. (Photo: AFP)
Activists said that more than 25 rockets and shells fell on residential neighborhoods and the popular market in the city. (Photo: AFP)
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Daraa Sees New Wave of Displacement After Sudden Bombardment on its Western Countryside

 Activists said that more than 25 rockets and shells fell on residential neighborhoods and the popular market in the city. (Photo: AFP)
Activists said that more than 25 rockets and shells fell on residential neighborhoods and the popular market in the city. (Photo: AFP)

Twenty-two persons will be displaced from Southern Syria to the North under the supervision of the Fifth Division and the Russian military police, after the city of Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa was targeted early on Thursday with rockets and missiles by the forces of the Fourth Division, which are stationed in a building adjacent to the city and Tal al-Jumuh.

Buses arrived at the old customs in Daraa al-Balad on Thursday afternoon to transport wanted persons and families wishing to be displaced, with the insistence of Muhammad al-Masalma, nicknamed “Hafu” and Moaied Harfoush not to leave the area.

The two men 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.

Activists said that more than 25 rockets and shells fell on residential neighborhoods and the popular market in the city in the early hours of the morning, causing three deaths and 10 injuries among civilians.

Shells also fell in the vicinity of a school in the city of Tafas, while students were attending summer courses. A state of panic and terror prevailed over the educational facility, which closed immediately.

Meanwhile, a number of Syrian regime forces were killed or wounded on Thursday morning in an attack on a military vehicle carrying food for the soldiers on the road between Sheikh Miskeen and Nawa in the western countryside of Daraa.

Syrian regime forces raided some houses in the city of Sheikh Miskeen and arrested around ten people on charges of committing acts against the Syrian state.

Activists expected that military actions would move to the areas of the western countryside of Daraa, especially Tafas, Muzayrib and Yaduda, especially with the arrival of military reinforcements over the past few days.



Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.