Daraa al-Balad: Renewed escalation? (28/6/2021)

A photo circulating on social media shows an earthen berm erected by the government forces in a street in one of the neighborhoods of the city of Daraa (al-Balad), southern Syria, on June 27, 2021. The berms, as well as the deployment of military checkpoints at the entrances to the city, come in response to the local factions and the negotiating committee in Daraa al-Balad’s rejection of the regime’s demand to hand over the light weapons in the area. According to the settlement (reconciliation) agreement brokered by Russia in July 2018, the former opposition factions were allowed to keep their light and medium weapons.