A Syrian army soldier stands overlooking a motorway in the town of Saraqib in the northwestern province of Idlib on March 6, 2020, as government forces assumed control over it. (Photo by AFP)

At least nine Syrian policemen have been killed after a group of unidentified armed men launched an attack on a government building in southwestern province of Dara’a.

The Syrian Interior Ministry, in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency, said the Dara’a Police Command personnel were killed on Monday morning when terrorists attacked them as they were on duty in the town of Muzayrib, which lies on the Syria-Jordan border.

The statement added that the bodies of the victims were later transported to Dara’a National Hospital.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed the attack.

Unknown assailants attacked the municipality building... abducting nine members of the security forces before shooting them dead and abandoning their bodies in a square, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He added that foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants usually target checkpoints or patrols, not government buildings in the area.

Syrian government forces retook Dara’a province from Takfiri terrorists in 2018.

They raised the national flag over some neighborhoods of the provincial capital, also called Dara’a, in July that year.

Earlier that month, the Syrian government had reached a deal with militants in Dara’a province.

The deal came hours after the Syrian army regained control of the strategic Nassib border crossing with Jordan after three years.

An agreement has been reached between the Syrian government and the terrorist groups which includes the handover of heavy and medium weapons in all cities and towns, SANA reported at the time.

Under the agreement, government forces took over all observation posts along the Syrian-Jordanian border, the report said.

The Takfiris, who opposed the deal, were evacuated with their families to the militant-held northwestern province of Idlib.

US troops block Russian soldiers in northeast Syria

Separately on Monday, US troops blocked Russian soldiers from reaching a town in Syria’s northeastern province of al-Hasakah, the Observatory reported, citing unnamed local sources.

The US troops, deployed at the eastern entrance of Tal Tamr town, stopped a Russian military patrol en route to al-Alya town. US military helicopters were seen flying overhead during the standoff.

The development took place only two days after Russian military police units in the same Syrian province prevented a US convoy from entering the strategic Kurdish-inhabited city of Qamishli.

Since late October 2019, the US has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the Arab country.

The Pentagon claims the move aims to protect the fields and facilities from possible attacks by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. That claim came although Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

Syria, which has not authorized American military presence in its territory, has condemned the US, saying it is plundering the country’s oil.

SOURCE: PRESS TV