Monday, December 25, 2017

Syrian, Iranian-backed forces advance toward border with Israel - Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff




by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

"Iranian backed-militias are trying to consolidate their sphere of influence all the way from southwest of Damascus to the Israeli border," says local rebel group.



In a new expansion of Iran's influence in war-torn Syria, Syrian army forces supported by Iranian-backed militias have been pushing deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon.

The army and Shiite forces advanced east and south of the Sunni rebel-held bastion of Beit Jin, backed by some of the heaviest aerial bombing and artillery shelling since a major assault began over two months ago to seize the area, rebels said.

The Syrian army said it had encircled the village of Mughr al Meer, in the foothills of Mount Hermon, as troops moved toward Beit Jin amid fierce clashes.

A Western intelligence source confirmed rebel reports that Iranian-backed militias, including the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, are playing a major role in the ongoing battles.

"The Iranian-backed militias are trying to consolidate their sphere of influence all the way from southwest of Damascus to the Israeli border," said Suhaib al Ruhail, an official from the Liwa al Furqan rebel group, which operates in the area.

In recent weeks, worried by Iran's expanding influence in Syria following the defeat of the Islamic State group, Israel has stepped up its strikes against suspected Iranian targets inside Syria.

An Israeli strike this month on a base near the city of al-Kiswa, south of Damascus, was widely believed to have targeted an Iranian military compound, according to a Western intelligence source.

Israel has been lobbying both the United States and Russia to deny Iran, Hezbollah and other Shiite militias any permanent bases in Syria, and to keep them away from the Golan Heights.

The southwest of Syria is part of the de-escalation zone in southern Syria agreed upon last July between Russia and Washington. The agreement was the first such understanding between the two powers. The area has not seen Russian bombing, unlike other cease-fire areas in Syria.

Diplomatic sources said several thousand Shiite fighters, who have been amassing from outside Quneitra province in the Syrian Golan Heights, are pitted against hundreds of Islamist and mainstream Free Syria Army rebels who are closing ranks under the banner of the "Union of Fighters of Jabal al Sheikh" group, which comprises mainly local fighters.

With the Syrian army and Iranian-backed offensive widening, the rebels have called on youths to enlist, and mosque imams in Beit Jin called on people to take up arms and fight the army.

Rebels still have a sizeable presence in central and southern Quneitra.

Western diplomatic sources have said the crushing of the Sunni rebel presence in areas they have controlled since 2013 will allow Hezbollah to launch another secure arms supply line from its border in southern Lebanon into Syria.


Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2017/12/25/syrian-iranian-backed-forces-advance-toward-border-with-israel/

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