WEB DESK
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Russia will meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss a lightning rebel advance in Syria, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Friday.
Syrian rebels have made their biggest battlefield gains since the civil war began 13 years ago, striking a devastating blow to President Bashar al-Assad.
After years of being locked behind frozen frontlines, the rebels captured the main northern city of Aleppo last week before pushing as far south as the centre of Hama, taking the strategic central city for the first time.
Turkey, Russia and Iran have regularly held talks on Syria’s future in a trilateral format as part of what is known as the Astana peace process. While NATO member Turkey backs the political and armed opposition, Russia and Iran support Assad.
Syrian opposition groups take control of Daraa from regime forces
Syrian opposition groups on Friday took control of Daraa, near the Jordanian border in southern Syria. According to Anadolu news Military opposition groups that are against Assad’s regime forces in Daraa, advanced by seizing settlements and military positions in rural areas, taking control of key locations.
After intense fighting, opposition groups also took control of the provincial capital from regime forces.
Daraa: Spark of Syria’s uprising
Daraa holds historical significance as the birthplace of Syria’s anti-regime resistance, particularly because it was in that city that the first spark of the 2011 uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime ignited.
Protests, initially calling for freedom and reforms, were brutally suppressed by the regime, marking the beginning of the civil war.
The movement in Daraa began March 15, 2011, when a group of students wrote on a school wall, “Hey Doctor (Bashar al-Assad), now it’s your turn,” which triggered widespread protests in Syria after the Arab Spring was ignited in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
From 2012 to 2018, Daraa was under the control of opposition forces.
With the support of Iran-backed militant groups and Russia’s military intervention, however, the regime regained strength and launched a ground offensive in June 2018.
By July of that year, the regime declared it had recaptured the entire Daraa province.
Following the return of the city to the regime’s control, thousands of opposition fighters and their families were forced to flee to northern Syria.