Iran-Backed Militia Leading Offensive Against Syrian Rebels Near Israeli Border

The Jerusalem Post reports: On Monday elements of the Iranian-backed Liwa Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas and the Syrian regime’s Republican Guard were reported to be leading the Syrian regime’s offensive near the Golan, attempting to cut the Syrian rebels territory in half.

The offensive, backed by Russian planes, is now within 10 km. of Israeli forces on the Golan border and risks opening a new front between Islamic State and the Syrian army.

The Syrian regime launched an offensive last month to defeat the rebels in southern Syria, who have held a large area, roughly the size of the Galilee, in Syria over the last six years. In the last week the numbers displaced by the fighting have risen to 270,000 from 60,000 creating a massive humanitarian crisis. Thousands of those fleeing the fighting are clustered on the Israeli border at al-Rafeed. Now the Syrian regime forces are closing in on the strategic corridor that connects the Syrian rebel areas near the Golan to the Syrian rebel areas near Dera’a next to the Jordanian border.

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