Up to 250,000 people are in a ‘dire’ situation having fled birthplace of uprising

The United Nations has called for unimpeded access to almost 250,000 Syrians stranded in the desert near Jordan and Israel, who fled as forces loyal to the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, entered rebel-controlled parts of Deraa.

The UN high commissioner for refugees said 234,500 people had fled the violence in the country’s south since mid-June. The international body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said their situation was “dire”, with no shelter or protection from desert heat and winds, and food supplies that had dwindled. It called on all warring sides to allow the passage of aid deliveries to civilians.

The UN’s call came hours after a symbolic victory for Assad’s forces that illustrated the turning tides of the conflict. Syrian state media said they hoisted their flag for the first time in years in the rebel-controlled parts of the city after a surrender deal was agreed with local rebels, which included a planned handover of weapons and the exile of opposition fighters and activists. The city is the birthplace of protests that led to the civil war.

“Units of the Syrian Arab army entered the district of Deraa al-Balad and raised the national flag in the main square … a declaration that Deraa is now clear of terrorism,” said the state news agency Sana, referring to the opposition groups as terrorists.

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Protests in Deraa in March 2011 against the incarceration and torture of teenagers who had scrawled anti-government graffiti on their school wall, sparked a nationwide outcry against the Assad family. A violent crackdown on protesters would later lead to an armed uprising.

The victory over rebels in the cradle of the uprising is a powerful symbol heralding the military defeat of a rebellion, which aimed to unseat the Assad dynasty but was waylaid by violent government repression, the rise of Islamist extremists, the unwavering support of the regime’s allies Russia and Iran and the dithering of western powers.

“People have accepted the reality that the entire world is fighting against the revolution, and therefore it cannot continue,” said one aid worker from Deraa who requested anonymity in order to avoid retribution from government forces that now control the surrounding province as well.

Deraa province has great strategic significance owing to its proximity to the border with Israel and straddles the Jordanian border. Tel Aviv has warned it would not tolerate Iranian-backed militias close to the Golan Heights.

The Syrian government announced an offensive last month to reclaim all of the province, where western-backed rebels controlled swaths of territory in what was ostensibly a “de-escalation” zone.

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But the Deraa offensive, backed by Russia, months after a brutal assault on eastern Ghoutathat involved the use of chemical weapons, prompted one of the largest single displacements in the conflict.

Rebels quickly sought to negotiate with Assad’s Russian sponsors after the US, which for years had backed the southern rebels, said it would not intervene militarily to protect them. One western diplomat said the “moral hazard” of intervening in the crisis has increased with time.

The surrender deal mirrors that in other parts of Syria: the handover of heavy weapons and forced displacement of those who oppose the agreement to the country’s northern territories, which are controlled either by rebel groups or proxies of Turkey.

Government forces are expected to turn to Idlib in the north, where Islamist militias and al-Qaida-linked militants control territory hosting more than two million internally displaced people.

Meanwhile, calls are mounting for lifesaving aid to reach those already stranded near Deraa.

“The displacement created by the violence in [Deraa] in the last few weeks is the highest we’ve seen in a short space of time since the war started more than seven years ago,” said Caroline Anning, an official from Save the Children. “Children are still trapped in areas with heavy fighting, and tens of thousands of displaced families need urgent lifesaving support.”