Moscow announced that US National Security Advisor John Bolton will hold talks in the Russian capital on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as part of efforts to prepare for a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin next month. Also, Jordans Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi is expected in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss with US and Russian officials the situation in southern Syria. The South is bracing for a regime assault in violation of a de-escalation zone agreement between Russia, Jordan and the US. The Russian foreign ministry did not disclose further details about the meeting between Lavrov and Bolton, but the latter’s visit will mark the first by a top-ranking US official to Moscow in months. RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying that Russian officials hope to discuss with Bolton the situation in Syria in wake of the developments in the southern Daraa province. He stressed that it was important for this file to be discussed on the bilateral Russian-American level ahead of tackling it with Jordan. A Russian diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat that Moscow is seeking to put the finishing touches to a tripartite agreement to ensure the stability of southern Syria. He revealed that Russia had addressed this issue with Israel and several understandings were reached between them over ending the Iranian presence in the South. The upcoming Russian-American meeting will be decisive in placing the final arrangements for southern Syria in wake of the ongoing field developments there and especially after Washington announced that it was not seeking military intervention. On the ground, Syrian regime forces and their Russian allies pounded on Monday the city of Daraa, forcing dozens of families to flee to safer areas in the countryside of the province. Regime forces are seeking to break up opposition-controlled areas into several pockets, a step that would facilitate its mission to control the South. “Regime forces hit areas controlled by opposition factions in the city of Daraa with more than 55 surface-to-surface missiles,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The monitoring group added that regime helicopters dropped on Monday at least four barrel bombs on areas in Daraa al-Balad in Daraa city, causing material damage. “This is considered the first barrel bomb bombardment by regime’s helicopters on Daraa city since July 2017. The attack caused destruction in the property of citizens but no information about casualties has been received so far,” it reported, saying that more intensive raids were tracked in areas in the eastern countryside of Daraa.