The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the collapse of the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement in southern Syria was another failure of the UN Security Council as it failed to maintain security and peace in the war-torn country. The Network pointed out that the United States was equally responsible with Russia for the disaster that befell the south.

In a report released on Tuesday, the monitoring group pointed out that the US was a partner in the disaster through its sudden abandonment of its commitment to maintain calm in southern Syria. It noted that US President Donald Trump did not raise Russia and the Assad regime’s blatant violations of the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement during the Helsinki summit with his Russian counterpart.

The Network said that at least 281 civilians, including 84 children and 63 women, were killed in the offensive the Assad regime and Russia launched in southern Syria.

The report indicated that the attacking forces committed 12 massacres in southern Syria. It said it recorded no fewer than 25 attacks on vital civilian centers, including eight attacks on medical facilities. Moreover, 86 arrests were recorded in Dara’a province after it fell to the Assad regime forces.

Assad regime helicopters dropped over 862 barrel bombs on rebel-held areas in the south, the Network said. The onslaught on the area also displaced 340,000 people, some of whom were forced to return to areas covered by local ‘reconciliation’ agreements.

In mid-June, the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian allies launched a large-scale military offensive in Dara’a and Quneitra provinces, carrying out intensive aerial bombardment as well as artillery and rocket shelling on rebel-held areas. The bombings, in which internationally prohibited weapons were used, targeted mainly vital civilian centers and residential areas, forcing around 350,000 people to flee towards relatively safer areas near the southern borders. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)