Daraa province and its capital of the same name, the cradle of Syria’s uprising, returned to government control in 2018 under a previous ceasefire backed by government ally Russia.
But rebels stayed on in a southern part of the city called Daraa al-Balad, and over the summer they clashed with government forces on its outskirts seeking to retake the area.
A new Moscow-brokered truce has seen dozens of opposition fighters bused out of the city over the past few weeks and government forces return to the area since Wednesday.
Inside Daraa al-Balad on Sunday, AFP correspondents saw bulldozers clearing away rubble between battle-scarred buildings.
Syrian and Russian flags flew in several places.
The guns had fallen silent but the areas visited were largely devoid of civilians, and several onlookers on cycle of violence
s refused to speak to the media."Nine checkpoints have been set up on the edges of and inside Daraa al-Balad," a military source told AFP.
Government forces enter another town in south Syria's Daraa
[NPASYRIA] On Sunday, notables of a town in the western countryside of Daraa, south Syria, and the security committee of the government forces reached an agreement sponsored by Russia for the entry of the government forces and new settlements.
"A military force, accompanied by the Russian Military Police, will enter the town tomorrow morning and it will search a number of houses in the town," an informed local source in the town of al-Yadouda told North Press.
"The agreement provides for the settlement of dozens of the wanted people by the government forces and their dissidents from al-Yadouda resident," the source added.
On September 5, the Central Committee in Daraa and the government security committee, accompanied by the Russian guarantor, began implementing the terms of the agreement that includes handing over light and medium weapons.
During the past two months, neighborhoods of Daraa al-Balad, Tariq al-Sadd, and the camps have witnessed shelling by the government forces and Iranian-backed factions before reaching a Russian-sponsored ceasefire agreement.