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Syrian troops kill 40 rebels in clashes in southern province

Xinhua, January 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

A total of 40 opposition militants were killed Wednesday during clashes with the Syrian troops in a southern contested town, the state news agency SANA reported.

15 militants of "takfiri and terrorist groups" were killed when the Syrian troops targeted their positions in the strategic town of Sheikh Miskin in the southern province of Daraa, said SANA, adding that the troops also destroyed a weapon depot and vehicles outfitted with machineguns there.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the so-called al-Muthana jihadist group have pushed the residents of Sheikh Miskin, some 22 km north of Daraa, to flee their homes after deliberately destroying the infrastructure of the town and plundering people's properties, according to SANA.

Separately, the Syrian government troops killed 25 "terrorists" and destroyed their weaponry in the town of Mzairib in northwestern Daraa, according to SANA.

The town, which is adjacent to the Jordanian borders, has emerged as a main conduit for the smuggling of foreign jihadists and cash into Syria.

Meanwhile, the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven people were killed by the Syrian troops' aerial bombardment on several areas in Daraa Wednesday morning.

Daraa is the birthplace of Syria's nearly four-year-old crisis. Several jihadist groups capitalized on the situation in that part of Syria to establish a foothold near the Jordanian borders and near the demarcation line that separates the Syrian side of al-Qunaitera province from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Syria repeatedly accused Israel of aiding the jihadist groups near Golan and also lashed out at Jordan on several occasions, accusing the later of facilitating the flow of jihadists into Daraa. Endit