JORDAN PRESSURES FSA TO HAND OVER NASIB BORDER CROSSING TO SYRIAN GOVERNMENT

Nasib border crossing

The Free Syrian Army Groups (FSA) in southern Syria has agreed to hand over the Nasib border crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on September 20.

According to the report, the FSA will hand over the crossing if the Syrian government agreed to release 100 prisoners of war. the Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides informed Damascus of the FSA demand, according to a source of RIA Novosti.

The report claimed that the FSA agreed to hand over Nasib border crossing after great pressure from Jordan, the main backer of the FSA in southern Syria.

Likely, the Jordanian government is interested in the financial benefit of the border crossing that use to make 800 million USD a year before it was closed back in 2015 when the al-Nusra Front – now known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – captured it.

It’s very unlikely that HTS will allow such a deal to happen especially that it has great influence over all the FSA groups in southern Syria tat mainly operate under its command.

The Jordanian pressure comes after the FSA has failed to make any progress in its operation against the ISIS-affiliated Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Waleed in the western Daraa countryside. On September 19, Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Waleed even attacked the FSA and killed 13 FSA fighters.

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