Syrian rebels said they seized control of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian rebels said they seized control of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the fourth city his forces have lost in a week.
Rebel sources said the military agreed to make an orderly withdrawal from Daraa under a deal giving army officials safe passage to the capital Damascus, about 100 km north. Daraa, which had a population of more than 100,000 before the civil war began 13 years ago, holds symbolic importance as the cradle of the uprising. It is the capital of a province of about 1 million people, bordering Jordan.
A coalition of rebel factions that include the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham made a last call on forces loyal to Assad's government in Homs to defect. Aron Lund, a fellow at think-tank Century Foundation, said Assad's government was "fighting for their lives at this point". Syrian state media reported dozens of rebels were killed in the Homs countryside on Friday in an operation by Syrian and Russian air forces, artillery, missiles and armoured vehicles.
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