Syrian insurgents attacked army positions in the southern desert on Tuesday night — after their US backers withdrew support.
The Ahmad al-Abdu and Osoud al-Sharqia factions of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed they had seized Bir Mahroutha and Umm Rumam.
The villages lie in the southern Badia or desert region, to the west of al-Tanf on the Iraqi border where occupying US and British special forces have declared a 35-mile exclusion zone to Syrian troops.
On Monday another FSA group, the Shohadaa al-Qraiteen Brigade, said US forces threatened to bomb its positions and headquarters near al-Tanf if they refused to return arms and vehicles provided by the US-led “coalition.”
Spokesman Abu Omar al-Homsi said the demand came after they attacked Syrian troops and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies on July 17 and took control of al-Ghorab and al-Halba mountains.
He said the Jihadis would not return "Toyota cars, medium weapons, light weapons and a number of lorries to the international coalition, and will continue to use them against the Syrian regime."
On Tuesday a group of Maghaweer al-Thawra guerillas went over to the government side — the second defection from the US-backed group in the southern Badia area in a week.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US wanted a stable and “unified” Syria after the defeat of Isis.
But he demanded Iranian troops leave the country and insisted: “The Assad regime has no role in the future governing of Syria.”
The Ahmad al-Abdu and Osoud al-Sharqia factions of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed they had seized Bir Mahroutha and Umm Rumam.
The villages lie in the southern Badia or desert region, to the west of al-Tanf on the Iraqi border where occupying US and British special forces have declared a 35-mile exclusion zone to Syrian troops.
On Monday another FSA group, the Shohadaa al-Qraiteen Brigade, said US forces threatened to bomb its positions and headquarters near al-Tanf if they refused to return arms and vehicles provided by the US-led “coalition.”
Spokesman Abu Omar al-Homsi said the demand came after they attacked Syrian troops and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies on July 17 and took control of al-Ghorab and al-Halba mountains.
He said the Jihadis would not return "Toyota cars, medium weapons, light weapons and a number of lorries to the international coalition, and will continue to use them against the Syrian regime."
On Tuesday a group of Maghaweer al-Thawra guerillas went over to the government side — the second defection from the US-backed group in the southern Badia area in a week.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US wanted a stable and “unified” Syria after the defeat of Isis.
But he demanded Iranian troops leave the country and insisted: “The Assad regime has no role in the future governing of Syria.”