Syrian regime forces inch toward Israeli-occupied Golan

By Levent Tok and Selen Temizer

DARAA, Syria / ANKARA, Turkey

After taking control of most of Syria’s border with Jordan, the Assad regime is now advancing westward toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights region, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent in Syria’s southern city of Daraa.

Much of Quneitra, the largest city in the Syrian-held Golan Heights, is currently held by armed anti-regime opposition groups.

After assuming control of the western portion of Daraa province, regime forces and allied groups backed by Iran began advancing on Quneitra, which sits just outside the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan region.

Late Sunday, heavy fighting was reported between the two sides in the area between Daraa’s town of Al-Harra and Quneitra’s town of Mashara.

On June 20, the Assad regime and its allies launched a wide-ranging offensive aimed at reestablishing control over southern Syria, including Daraa.

On July 6, Russian officials and armed opposition groups agreed to a permanent cease-fire in southern Syria.

Under the agreement, anyone wanting to leave Daraa will be provided with safe exit to northern parts of the country.

Since then, the regime and its allies have assumed control over roughly 85 percent of the Syria-Jordan border.

On Sunday, a first convoy of 15 buses carrying 700 evacuees -- including both civilians and opposition fighters -- set out from Daraa for Syria’s northern Idlib province.

Following peace talks held last year in Astana, Daraa and Quneitra were both designated as “de-escalation zones” in which acts of aggression are prohibited.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.