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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) said on December 7 that it was redeploying in two southern governorates, after a war monitor reported government forces had lost control of most of Daraa and al-Suwayda.
“Our forces operating in Daraa and al-Suwayda are redeploying and repositioning, and establishing a… security cordon in that direction after terrorist elements attacked remote army checkpoints,” the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces says in a statement carried by state media.
Late on December 6, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group, said that local anti-governmental armed factions had taken control of more than 90 percent of Daraa, including the eponymous city.
In neighbouring al-Suwayda, the monitoring group and local media said the governor, the police and prison chiefs, and the local ruling Baath Party leader had left their offices as local fighters took control of several checkpoints in the city and countryside.
In addition to these losses in Daraa and al-Suwayda, it was reported on December 7 that the SAA was withdrawing from some areas in the countryside of the southern governorate of al-Qunitra. Russian troops are known to be deployed there.
The armed uprising in southern Syria came amid a large-scale offensive by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies in the country’s northern and central region. So far, the militants have captured more than 800 square kilometers, including all of Idlib governorate in addition to the cities of Aleppo and Hama.
It is still unclear if the militants in Daraa and al-Suwayda were coordinating with HTS, or if they simply took advantage of the situation.
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