Beirut, Lebanon –

Clashes in Syria’s Daraa province killed at least 20 people on Sunday, a human rights monitor said, a day after an explosion killed a group of children.

Daraa was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad, but the city returned to government control in 2018 under a Russian-backed ceasefire.

The southern province has been plagued by unrest since then.

Ahmed Rabad, who “led an armed group”, was accused by a rival group of planting an explosive device in the city of Sanamine on Saturday that killed eight children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Labad, who once worked for the state security agency, has denied involvement, according to the British ombudsman.

Clashes broke out on Sunday when a rival armed group led by a man formerly affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) but now “linked to military intelligence” entered Sanaimain, the monitor said.

The attackers burned down the Rabade family’s house and killed those who lived there.

The observatory said three members of Labad’s family and 14 fighters were among the 20 dead.

There was no immediate report of the clashes in Syrian state media.

An explosion killed seven children in the town on Saturday, state news agency SANA said, citing police sources and blaming “terrorists” for the explosion.

Daraa is the scene of frequent attacks, armed clashes and assassinations, some of which are claimed by the Islamic State.

In January, the observatory said a local leader and seven militia members affiliated with Islamic State were killed in clashes with local groups.

Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, more than 500,000 people have been killed. Millions of people have been displaced.