Syria fighting displaces 45,000 people in south

Two Israeli missiles land near int'l airport

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FE Team | Published: June 27, 2018 00:08:14

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BEIRUT, June 26 (Agencies): The United Nations (UN) said on Tuesday air strikes and grounds fighting in Syria have forced at least 45,000 people to flee.
Backed by Russia, Syrian government forces have ramped up air strikes and ground attacks on rebel positions in the south, particularly its main province of Daraa.
"Our estimates are 45,000, maybe even higher," said Linda Tom, spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Syria.
The displacements have been happening increasingly fast in recent days as violence has escalated, Tom said.
"Over the last couple of days we saw a very large number of people who fled because of the ongoing hostilities, because of the shelling and fighting in that area," she said.
The majority are fleeing from the eastern parts of Daraa province south towards the sealed border with Jordan, which has said it cannot absorb any more refugees.
"We haven't seen massive displacement in this scale in Daraa," Tom said.
The UN had previously warned that fighting was putting 750,000 people in rebel-held areas of the south in harm's way.
More than five million people have fled abroad since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011. Another six million are displaced inside the country.
The Syrian army has seized a chunk of territory from rebels in the southwest, Syrian state media and a war monitor said on Tuesday
The first major government advanced in an offensive near the Jordanian border which has displaced tens of thousands.
Meanwhile, two Israeli missiles landed near the international airport of Damascus after midnight Tuesday.
The Syrian state TV spelled no further details, but activists on the ground who reported the sound of explosion minutes ahead of the TV report said the Israeli missiles left a "medium" explosion.
The precise target of the fresh Israeli attack is still unknown.
Israel has repeatedly targeted military positions in Syria, including the airport of Damascus, on the pretext that it was targeting Iranian forces based in Syrian military sites.
In May, Israel targeted several Syrian military positions, claiming that it was targeting Iranian bases in Syria.
On Sunday, Israel struck positions of pro-government Shiite fighters near the Syrian-Iraqi border, killing over 40 of them.
The Syrian government has accused Israel of supporting the "terrorist groups" in Syria, saying that attacks have been launched in their favors.
The recent Israeli strikes come as the Syrian army is on the first stage of a wide-scale offensive on several rebel-held areas in southern Syria, including in the Quneitra province near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.