Date: Jun 27, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Fighting in Syria’s south displaces 50,000 Associated Press BEIRUT: Fighting escalated in southern Syria as government forces Tuesday pushed deeper into rebel-held territories in Deraa province in a weeklong offensive that the United Nations estimates has displaced up to 50,000 people. Jordan said its borders will remain closed for any new refugees, calling on the U.N. to provide security in southern Syria. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said aid officials were “deeply concerned” for those fleeing the fighting and heading toward the sealed border with Jordan. He called on warring parties to “ensure the protection of these civilians, according to international law.” Deraa’s residents described living in extreme fear and said many had also headed to the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, believing it to be safer. The escalation in Deraa, near Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan, came as Syria’s state media reported that two Israeli missiles struck an area near the Damascus International Airport early Tuesday, without identifying a specific target. Opposition activists said Syrian and Russian warplanes were taking part in the offensive. The opposition-aligned Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government forces were advancing in the Lujat region and captured seven new villages in the area. Deraa-based opposition activist Osama Hourani denied the government controlled parts of Lujat, saying the area, known for its caves and rocky plains, will be a challenge for Assad’s troops. Wasim Kiwan, a 36-year old civilian in the village of Tafas north of Deraa city said nothing has been spared in the intensive bombing campaign. “The area is heading toward a catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe in every sense of the word,” he said. “People are living in extreme fear.” Kiwan said many were heading toward the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. “The safest place is the border with Israel because the regime and Russian airplanes cannot strike the area,” he said. Younis Shtawi, a police officer in the Deraa village of Umm al-Mayadin, said several villages, including Busra al-Harir, Atesh and communities in Lujat have been emptied of people in recent days. “No one stayed,” Shtawi said. The World Food Program put the number of displaced from the Deraa fighting at nearly 50,000, saying it delivered urgently needed food across the Syria-Jordan border. It said the fighting closed supply routes, causing a spike in prices of fuel and other basic supplies. “We’re sleeping in the open air, under the trees, in the mosques and schools. Those lucky to find a tent have to share it with four or five other families,” the WFP statement quoted a displaced man named Nidal as saying. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi urged the U.N. to provide security in southern Syria. “Our borders will remain closed,” he wrote on Twitter. Kiwan said maybe the U.N. could help the displaced in southern Syria after Jordan said its border would remain closed. The world is watching people die, he said, adding: “There is no humanity in the world. Humanity is a lie.” Jordan is already hosting about 660,000 registered Syrian refugees and estimates that the number of displaced Syrians in the overburdened country is twice as high.