SYRIAN OPPOSITION EXPEL ISIS FROM TOWN NEAR ISRAELI BORDER

An Israeli soldier looks through his binoculars from the top of his tank during a drill near the border with Syria. (Photo: ARA News file)

Qahtaniyah, Syria, 15 Rajab 1436/4 May 2015 (MINA) – Fierce clashes broke out between fighters from the Syrian armed opposition and militants of the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) in the town of Qahtaniya in the Quneitra countryside –adjacent to the border between Israel.

Rebels of the Army of Islam announced that its fighters stormed the town of Qahtaniya and were able to control it, after expelling members of the pro-IS Islamist faction of the Jihad Army, ARA News quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Israeli local media reported that the Israeli army has banned journalists and citizens from approaching the border near the Golan Heights facing the town of Qahtaniyah in western Quneitra, southern Syria.

The Israeli army forces –stationed on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights– bombed a number of military sites inside Syrian territory, in response to several shells and bursts in the buffer-zone between the two countries in Golan, which is controlled by U.N. forces.

Fighting broke out last week between the armed opposition groups and the IS-linked brigade of the Yarmouk Martyrs after the latter killed six opposition fighters near the city of Baath in Quneitra province.

The rebel brigade of the Yarmouk Martyrs (formerly part of the Army of Islam force) in the southern region of Syria announced allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) last week, according to an official announcement by the brigade. (T/P001/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)