Israel Matzav

Syrian rebels overrun Quneitra crossing point with Israel

The IDF has confirmed that Syrian rebels now control the Syrian side of the Quneitra border crossing with Israel on the Golan Heights after defeating Bashar al-Assad's troops on Thursday morning.

Israeli military sources told Army Radio in recent weeks that a takeover of the Quneitra crossing by rebels would constitute a major turning point in Jerusalem’s attitude toward the conflict ravaging its neighbor to the northeast.

Earlier on Thursday, a mortar shell landed at a United Nations base in Quneitra, just a few hundred meters from the border fence separating Israel and Syria, according to media reports Thursday.

Israel Radio reported that soldiers loyal to Assad were engaged in fierce gun battles with rebels near the border fence. The Israeli military has instructed agrarians on the Golan Heights to keep away from the border fence area near Quneitra.

In addition, authorities have banned civilians from entering Kibbutz Ein Zivan, a communal settlement that lies hundreds of meters away from the border fence, according to Israel Radio.

Alex Shalom, an Israeli farmer from the Golan Heights, said he saw heavy smoke rising from the crossing and Israeli military ambulances evacuating people from the site.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the area leading to Quneitra had been closed off, but gave no other details on the fighting.

Officials from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which operates the base, could not be reached for comment.

Despite the Israeli government's best efforts to keep out of this war, it's pretty likely that the IDF will react much more strongly to 'incidents' along the border with the rebels in control than it would have with Assad in control.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Golan Heights, Nusra Front, Quneitra, Syria, Syrian uprising, UNDOF

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:24 AM