The Syrian army and its allies have taken control of a strategic hill overlooking the Israeli border in the Golan Heights as it pushes forward with an offensive to seize the remaining parts of the southwest from rebels, state TV and rebels said on Monday.
It said the army had taken control of al-Haara hill on the second day of an offensive to take back the last parts of southwest Syria in Quneitra province that are in rebel hands and are close to the border with Israel.
The hilltop, which had a major anti-aircraft radar base that was part of elaborate Syrian army defenses against Israel, and is the highest ground in Daraa province, fell into rebel hands in October 2014.
It has been heavily bombed by Russian and Syrian army raids in the past two days as the army has moved closer to the Israeli border after gaining control of most of Daraa province to the east in a push that began last June, according to rebels and a war monitor.
A Syrian army source quoted by state media said the army had made territorial gains in Quneitra province where it seized the town of Masharah, about 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the Golan frontier.
Rebels said Russian and Syrian jets intensively bombed a string of rebel-held towns in Quneitra to force them to surrender in a strategy that offers rebels the choice of either evacuating to opposition-held areas or being recruited into state-run militias.
The army said the rebel-held towns of Qusaiba, Sweisa and Ain Teineh had raised the national flag, but rebel sources said these towns were being bombarded into submission.
The violence is taking place a few miles away from the line marking the start of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force zone, an area monitored by a U.N. force since 1974.
Israel has threatened a "harsh response" to any attempt by Syrian forces to deploy in that zone. Israel does not want its enemies Iran and Hezbollah, both allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who are well-entrenched in that area, to move forces near its border.
The offensive aims at completing its control of the strategic area known as the "Triangle of Death," which connects southern the Damascus countryside with Daraa and Quneitra provinces.
The area is a bastion of Iranian-backed militias including Hezbollah group, according to Western intelligence sources.
Israel signaled it would not impede the Syrian army offensive in Quenitra as long as it steered away from the demilitarised zone, even as it struck Syrian army posts near the frontier and elsewhere in Syria where it suspects Iranian backed forces are stationed.
Syria accused Tel Aviv on Sunday of attacking the Nairab air base in Aleppo on Sunday where a Western intelligence source said the Iranian military had a presence. There were reports that several officers, including Iranians, had been killed, the source said without elaborating.
