Syrian government targets rebels near Israel-occupied Golan

Syrian government forces unleashed hundreds of missiles on a rebel-held area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, activists have said, the latest phase in an offensive to clear southern Syria of insurgents.

The government's push came after it had secured control of most of Daraa province in an offensive that began in June.

Yesterday, the first batch of armed fighters and their families left the city of Daraa, the provincial capital, in buses that would take them to the rebel-held Idlib province in the north.

Similar deals in other parts of Syria resulted in the evacuation of thousands of opposition fighters and civilians - evacuations that the United Nations and rights groups have decried as forced displacement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said yesterday the success in driving the opposition out of Daraa embodies the will of his army and allied forces to "liberate all of Syrian territories" of "terrorism."