AMMAN/BEIRUT, June 30, 2018 (News Wires) - The Syrian army seized more towns in the southwest on Saturday, as air strikes pounded others that still held out against the rapid offensive and rebels said they had begun negotiating peace terms through the government's ally Russia. State television broadcast from the town of Dael, northwest of Deraa city, after the army entered, and a war monitor reported that several towns further east had also accepted government rule. Russia, the Syrian government's strongest supporter, has backed army advances with air strikes since entering the war in 2015 and has played a role in mediating surrender deals. Southwestern Syria is one of two remaining rebel strongholds, along with a region of the northwest that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sworn to recapture. He also wants to take back control of territory in northeastern Syria held by US-backed Kurdish forces.
