Local rebel groups took control of the Syrian city of Deraa and large parts of the province of the same name on Friday, the SOHR observer group said. Deraa, located in southern Syria, is symbolically important, and the area was the hotbed of the 2011 uprising that developed into the country’s civil war. – Local groups have taken control of large parts of the province of Deraa and Deraa city. They now control more than 90 percent of the province, after regime forces withdrew, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which is based in Britain. (NTB)
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