Hezbollah Reportedly Commanding Syrian Fighters Near Israeli Border: Offensive Will Move Towards Quneitra On The Golan

Hezbollah reportedly commanding Syrian fighters near Israeli border - exposing limits of Israeli and U.S. policy

Hezbollah's role in the offensive near the border with Jordan and Israel's Golan Heights has also defied Israeli demands that Iranian proxies be kept away from its frontier

Hezbollah is helping to lead a Russian-backed offensive in southern Syria which has left over 250,000 people displaced, pro-Damascus sources said. The Iranian-backed militia's continued role in Syria exposes the limits of both Israeli and U.S. policy that hopes Moscow can get Iran and groups it backs out of the country.

Hezbollah's role in the offensive near the border with Jordan and Israel's Golan Heights has also defied Israeli demands that Iranian proxies be kept away from its frontier - a fault line of the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict.

"Hezbollah is a fundamental participant in planning and directing this battle," a commander in the regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters. "Everyone knows this - the Israeli enemy, friends, and even the Russians."

Hezbollah's role includes directing Syrian forces, the commander said. It has also deployed its own elite forces.

But the Iranian-backed group is keeping a lower profile than in past Syria campaigns, acknowledging the risks of Israeli escalation.

A senior official in the regional alliance that backs Assad said Hezbollah was fighting "under the cover" of the Syrian army in the south. 

For Assad, the campaign holds out the prospect of reopening a vital trade artery to Jordan, reestablishing his control over the Golan frontier, and crushing rebels once deemed a threat because of their proximity to Damascus.

The offensive has yet to face resistance from Assad's Western, Israeli or Arab foes. Washington has told rebels it once backed not to expect intervention. Some have surrendered.

Politically, the campaign has been one of the most complex yet for Assad. Israel has been pressing his Russian allies to keep Iranian-backed forces away from its frontier. Israel also wants them removed from Syria more widely, echoing Washington.

Recent Russian calls for non-Syrian forces to leave the south have been seen as partly directed at Iranian-backed forces.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday President Donald Trump would discuss Syria with Russia's Vladimir Putin at a summit in Helsinki this month.

"The battlefield situation in Syria will not be reversed. The regime and its allies have very wide control," the official said. Assad has said Hezbollah and other allies will stay a long time.

Excluding Iran and Hezbollah from the southwest was one objective of contacts between the United States, Russia, Israel and Jordan that had sought - unsuccessfully - to stave off a government offensive, the European diplomat said.

The temperature may however rise as the offensive moves from Deraa province towards Quneitra on the Golan, where tensions between Israel and Iran sparked a military confrontation in May. Israel beefed up its tank and artillery deployment on the Golan on Sunday.