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25 Syrian civilians killed in Russian airstrikes

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Twenty-five civilians were killed by Russian airstrikes on rebel-held towns in Daraa in southern Syria yesterday.

As the Syrian regime intensifies its military campaign in Southern Syria large numbers of civilians have been displaced and have fled to the Jordanian and Israeli border. The Israeli army confirmed that it launched a major operation overnight to transport tonnes of food, medical supplies, tents and clothing over the border to the Syrian Golan Heights. The aid was delivered by the Israel Defence Forces to Syrian civilians living in camps in the Southern and Central Golan Heights.

According to Israeli assessments, the continuation of the large-scale Syrian military operation is dependent on understandings reached on Wednesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US National Security Advisor John Bolton. It is not expected to begin before the summit between President Putin and President Trump on 16 July in Helsinki.

Israeli officials believe that President Assad will ultimately seize the entire Syrian side of the Golan border, but it is not yet clear whether this will require a large-scale military operation or whether it will be carried out with the consent of the Americans and some kind of ceasefire and surrender by the rebels, in coordination with Israel and Jordan. Israeli Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Gadi Eisenkot flew to Washington yesterday for talks with his US counterparts that are expected to focus on the situation in Syria.

The UN World Food Program believes that the fighting in Daraa has displaced 50,000 people. Most of them have fled to the Jordanian border. Officials in Nawa, a rebel-held town bombed heavily on Thursday, issued a statement asking Jordan to take in Syrian refugees,  but the Jordanian Government have said the border will remain closed. More than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees are already in Jordan, but there are estimates that the actual number is closer to 1.3m.