UPDATE, 1300 GMT: Pro-opposition activists report bombing of the town of Tasil as well as the city of Nawa,with heavy damage in both locations.
Dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed or wounded as pro-Assad warplanes bombed and shelled the city of Nawa in southern Daraa Province in southern Syria on Tuesday.
A resident said dozens of missiles were also fired on the city near Quneitra Province, close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. A hospital was reportedly knocked out of service.
“It’s like doomsday,” said Malek al-Ghawi. “[There are] many corpses in the streets and everyone is unable to pull them.”
The attacks were paused late Tuesday after the local committee asked for the resumption of negotiations.
A pro-Assad offensive, enabled by Russian airstrikes, forced the capitulaton of much of Daraa Province last week. However, Nawa and some towns have held out against the surrender.
Pro-Assad forces launched their assault on neighboring Quneitra Province and remaining opposition areas last weekend. Some of the bombardment on Nawa came from al-Haara, a hill overlooking the Golan that was captured on Monday.
Ten people were reporteldy killed in a strike on a school in Ein Tina in Quneitra. The facility was serving as a shelter for displaced people.
Nawa has about 100,000 residents, and attacks are likely to force many people to join the 320,000 displaced by the offensive that began on June 19. Before Tuesday’s strikes, thousands of people had returned to the city amid the reports of an imminent capitulaton deal between rebels and the Russian military.
“We don’t know where to take the injured, the town has been burnt,” said resident Abu Hashem.
