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Over 45,000 civilians displaced following clashes in southwestern Syria: UN

Smoke rises above the Syrian southwestern city of Dara’a on June 25, 2018. (AFP photo)

The UN says over 45,000 people have been displaced following the ongoing conflicts in Syria’s southwestern province of Dara’a, warning that the number could double if clashes continue.

"We expect the number of displaced people could nearly double as violence escalates," Bettina Luescher, spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), said at a briefing on Tuesday.

Spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Jens Laerke said at the same briefing that civilians including children have lost their lives and been injured during the conflicts and a hospital has been put out of operation.

Earlier on the day, Media run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Syrian army troops had managed to push the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists out of the Laja area and the strategic town of Busra al-Harir in Dara’a Province.

On Saturday, Syrian government forces liberated the villages of al-Bustan and al-Shumariya in Dara’a’s eastern countryside.

Syria’s southwest region is strategically sensitive because of its proximity to the frontiers with both Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The territory’s return to the Syrian government control would cut the much-reported collaboration between Israel and militants and deal a blow to Tel Aviv’s plans to consolidate its grip on the Golan Heights, which has been used by the regime to treat wounded militants for years.


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