Syria's army pressed a counter-offensive against rebels in the south of the country Saturday, firing a surface-to-surface missile and carrying out numerous air strikes in the area, a monitoring group said. The violence comes a day after the army launched a massive bid to reclaim strategic positions in the west of Daraa province seized by rebels in recent weeks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
State media has also reported the launching of an offensive against rebels in Daraa. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the area is important because it is located near the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and also because Daraa is near Damascus.
"The army wants to take back hills seized by rebels in recent weeks, that link together Daraa and Quneitra provinces," said Abdel Rahman. "The army's counter-offensive, against rebels and the (jihadist) Al-Nusra Front, has been extremely fierce. On Friday the army fired 100 rockets and carried out 15 air strikes. On Saturday, the air raids and shelling have been continuous, and the army also fired a surface-to-surface missile against Sahem" village, he told AFP. The Britain-based Observatory said the air raids had caused an unknown number of casualties, while fighting between troops and rebels killed six Al-Nusra jihadists.
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