Syrian army retakes Golan crossing from rebels

Agence France-Presse

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(UPDATE) Rebels fighting troops loyal to Damascus on Thursday briefly seize the only crossing along the Israel-Syria ceasefire line in the Golan Heights

QUNEITRA CROSSING (UPDATE) – Rebels fighting troops loyal to Damascus on Thursday briefly seized the only crossing along the Israel-Syria ceasefire line in the Golan Heights, before regime forces recaptured it, an AFP correspondent and Israeli sources said.

The Quneitra crossing is in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, most of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 6-Day War.

It has both strategic and symbolic importance because of its proximity to Israel and to the Syrian capital.

“The Syrian army has recovered control of the crossing, there are sounds of explosions from time to time but far less than in the morning,” an Israeli source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

An AFP correspondent near the crossing also confirmed that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had taken back Quneitra, saying he could see tanks moving inside the area.

The Israeli military earlier confirmed that the crossing and the nearby town of the same name had fallen into rebel hands.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that has been monitoring Syria’s two-year conflict, also said the rebels seized the Quneitra crossing after attacking and clashing with Syrian government troops.

In the past 3 months, at least 16 people wounded in the civil war which has gripped the country have crossed the border and received medical treatment at the hospital, which is located in the northern Galilee town of Safed.

Israel seized a large section of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.

Israel and Syria are still technically at a state of war. – Rappler.com

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