BICOM

Hezbollah and Iranian troops are helping the Assad regime retake rebel-held areas of southern Syria, in particular the Golan Heights.

Syrian and Hezbollah troops began an offensive out of Damascus a few days ago, advancing south towards the opposition-controlled border area with Israel. A Syrian military source told AFP that Syrian and Hezbollah forces were involved in the move.

The opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that Iranian troops were also assisting. Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory, said, “Hezbollah has taken the initiative to lead army and Iranian forces in the triangle of territory linking Daraa, Quneitra and the southwest of Damascus provinces”, adding that the “frontline” was on the border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The border area has been under effective opposition control for some months. Occasional clashes between regime and opposition forces have resulted in rockets and shells falling inside the Golan, sometimes leading to Israeli responses. Most recently, a group of senior Hezbollah and Iranian military personnel on the Israeli border were killed in an alleged Israeli strike, including Jihad Mughniyeh, son of assassinated Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyeh.

Yesterday, UK-based Arabic newspaper Al-Arabi al-Jadeed said that in response to the 2008 killing of the elder Mughniyeh, Hezbollah planned to assassinate former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The assassination attempt was reportedly foiled due to information provided by Mohammad Shawraba, a senior Hezbollah official who was allegedly an Israeli double-agent. Information provided by Shawraba is also alleged to have helped foil a whole string of Hezbollah plots around the world including planned attacks on Israeli targets in Cyprus and Azerbaijan. The one attack that succeeded, in Burgas, Bulgaria, killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver in 2012.