Meeting between locals, Russian officers in Syria’s Daraa ends to no avail
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – Local dignitaries held on Saturday a meeting with officers of the Russian Military Police in the town of Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa, southwestern Syria.
A source close to some of the dignitaries told North Press that the meeting was held without the presence of officers from Syrian government forces.
He added that the local leaders asked the Russian delegation to make the government forces withdraw their checkpoints, which they had set up two days ago, from the outskirts of their town.
The meeting ended without any agreement being reached between the two parties, according to the same source.
On Saturday, Fierce clashes took place between government forces and local fighters in the vicinity of Tafas, after the forces tried to advance towards the town.
The government forces are demanding the local dignitaries to hand over the people – who do not want to engage in the settlement agreement – to the government so it can move them from Daraa Governorate to other Syrian regions, mainly those held by the Syrian opposition in northwest Syria.
For a week now, the government has closed the roads that lead to Tafas, and prevented its residents from reaching to their crops, causing great financial losses to them.
Since the government forces re-captured Daraa in 2018, the governorate has been living in a state of insecurity, with one or two daily assassinations targeting soldiers and officers of the government forces, not to mention the spread of thefts.
In 2021, Daraa Governorate went through an 80-day-seige. After that, a number of Daraa’s notables and government forces, with mediation of Russian officers, reached a ceasefire agreement on September 5, 2021, including handing over weapons and deploying governmental security posts in the towns of the governorate.