Regime Air Raids Bombard Daraa City, Multiple Combatant Casualties Reported

Multiple air raids targeted Syrian rebel positions in eastern Daraa’s Tariq al-Asad neighborhood and a nearby Palestinian refugee camp on June 10 and 11 amid ongoing ground clashes.Activists said that over 50 barrel bombs, elephant missiles and other missiles were dropped over the area in the past 24 hours. At least six rebels were killed in the airstrikes and ensuing clashes, including local rebel commander Farhan Hamadi.In addition to the aerial bombardments, additional reports said that a number of pro-regime forces were killed in a series of failed ambush attacks on the rebel-held Daraa camp and other eastern areas of the city near the Sayiidna al-Hussein Bin Ali Rasiullah Mosque.Unconfirmed reports said among those killed was Colonel Ahmed Tajo, the head of the Syrian Arab Army’s nefarious Fourth Division, widely considered one of the Syrian military’s most battle-tested veteran battalions, who have led successful campaigns against rebels in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon and the much-contested Damascus suburb of Daraya.
Official regime media sources have yet to confirm Colonel Tajo’s death.While the division’s principle role is to defend the regime’s military assets in and around the Damascus region, it has since expanded to more distant regions bordering the province, including the heavily contested Daraa province.