Rebels attack in Daraa city, hoping to pre-empt pro-Assad offensive, and to affect frontlines elsewhere in Syria

Rebels have launched attacks in southern Syria for the first time in months, trying to advance in Daraa city on the Jordanian border.

Free Syrian Army units and other opposition factions said on Monday that they took territory in the al-Manshiyah neighborhood in the Old City area, after detonating three vehicle-borne bombs. The rebels claimed the advance, inflicting dozens of casualties on pro-Assad forces, despite regime airstrikes.

The offensive was suddenly launched on Saturday, breaking a long period of quiet. The rebels, including the Southern Front, have been crippled by a cut-off of weapons and supplies from the Military Operations Command, led by the US and based in Jordan’s capital Amman — since summer 2015. Recent reports said that Jordan was seeking a deal in which it would reopen the border after regime forces cleared away rebels from nearby areas.

Well-placed local sources said on Monday that the sudden assault did not indicate renewed support by the foreign agencies in Amman. Instead….

Lots of Free Syrian brigades lost patience with the MOC. They realized that HTS [Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the jihadist bloc led by Jabhat Fatath al-Sham] statements like “get your arms and ammo from the regime, which enjoys unlimited supplies from Russia and Iran, is way more reliable than the MOC, have lots of merit.

The FSA has allied with leading rebel factions Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam === both excluded from MOC supplies — and elements of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. THe attacks were timed, the local sources said, before pro-Assad forces could start their own offensive heading for the Jordanian border.

The sources claimed “incredible progress” because there were no leaks or advance information, ensuring that the rebels “caught regime militias by surprise”.

They noted not only that the pro-Assad offensive has been checked, but that the rebel challenge in Daraa will relieve pressure on opposition areas in East Ghouta near Damascus, where pro-Assad forces have advanced since spring 2016.

The sources anticipate that success in the south could have effects farther north. They are hoping that the FSA, Ahrar, and other factions can defeat a challenge from jihadist considered close to the Islamic State (“mini-Daesh”) in northern Hama Province. Then they are looking to consolidation of frontlines and possible attacks on regime positions in northwest Syria.

They summarize, “Since the fronts are geographically far away from each other, rebels can begin to renew their regime-militia-ping-pong games by coordinated attacks on various fronts forcing the regime to move their forces around.”

Before the rebel offensive, the regime had bombarded opposition-held areas of Daraa city for a week.

“More than 1,500 artillery shells and rockets have fallen on opposition-held Daraa city,” said Amer Abazeid, the spokesman for the Daraa Civil Defense.

He said between 2,000 and 3,000 families have fled to the nearby countryside to stay with relatives or sleep rough on farmland and in orchards to escape the heavy artillery bombardment.

“The city is all but empty of residents,” he said, with only 200-300 families remaining inside rebel areas of the city, home to about 100,000 people before the war.

A regime barrel bomb falls on Daraa:

TOP PHOTO: Smoke rises from a regime airstrike trying to check rebel attacks in Daraa city in southern Syria