Syrian planes strike targets near Jordan

Syrian government warplanes struck opposition outposts near the Jordanian border early today, opposition groups said.

The airstrikes, at around 03:00 (00:00 GMT) were the first near that part of the border, a Jordanian official said. They came hours after Syria’s foreign minister warned Jordan against sending troops into his country.

Western-backed opposition groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA)’s so-called Southern Front have been active recently in the desert area near the borders with Jordan and Iraq, fighting Daesh.

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“The Syrian regime’s jets conducted four strikes against us,” said Tlas Al-Salameh, the commander of Osoud Al-Sharqiya, a Western-backed FSA faction which is the largest group operating in the Syrian Desert bordering Jordan.

Al-Salameh said one airstrike hit a border area where the opposition group shelters families of its fighters, others hit an outpost eight kilometres from the Rukban camp where more than 80,000 refugees are stranded.

Al-Salameh, whose group was hit by Russian bombers last year in an attack that angered the Pentagon and Jordan, said there were no casualties from today’s raids.

The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment.