Further advances by the Syrian army worry the Israeli regime

Tabnak – While various international actors are trying to initiate a political solution for the future of Syria, the developments on the battlefield are still going toward the Syrian government’s favorable direction. In a latest development, Syrian forces managed to reach an area bordering the Israel.

According to a Press TV report, Syrian army troops and their allies have made significant territorial gains in the last militant-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon.

Militant sources said the Syrian forces, backed by heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling, advanced east and south of the militant-held stronghold of Beit Jin since a major operation began over two months ago to capture the area.

The Syrian military said it had surrounded the village of Mughr al-Meer at the foothills of Mount Hermon as forces moved towards Beit Jin amid fierce clashes.

The enclave is the last militant stronghold left southwest of Damascus known as the Western Ghouta that had been captured by government forces last year. The foreign-backed Takfiri militants still have a presence in central and southern Quneitra, in Syria's Golan Heights.

The advance will apparently thwart Israeli attempts to invade Syria after the Israeli military threatened back in November to launch an incursion into Syria “to protect” the people of a village populated by the Arab country’s Druze minority, who are themselves supportive of the Syrian government.

Meanwhile, Worried by what is called Iran’s expanding influence in Syria after the defeat of ISIS terrorist group, Israel has in the last few weeks stepped up its inside Syria, Reuters notes in a report. 

Israel has been lobbying both Russia and the US to deny Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other Shi‘ite forces any permanent bases in Syria, and to keep them away from the Golan, as they gain ground while helping Damascus beat back the militants. 

The southwest of Syria is part of a de-escalation zone in southern Syria agreed last July between Russia and Washington, the first such understanding between the two powers.

In another development, CNN reports that as the Syrian government maintains its stranglehold on Eastern Ghouta, Moscow and Ankara are discussing the relocation of hundreds of people from the area, due to humanitarian concerns.

Various militant groups control Eastern Ghouta, and the suburb has been surrounded by Syrian government forces for more than four years. Eastern Ghouta is part of four de-escalation zones negotiated by the Russian, Iranian and Turkish governments in May. 

This comes shortly after Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed on Friday to hold a peace congress for Syria in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi in late January. A Syrian “Congress of National Dialogue” will be held in the Russian city of Sochi on January 29-30, Russia said alongside its allies Turkey and Iran.