CIA-trained rebels among Islamists holding off Syrian forces near Golan Heights

Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Islamist rebel militias have been advancing in Syria’s Golan Heights.

Rebel militias are said to have defied Syrian air strikes and advanced in the Quneitra province near Israel.

Smoke rises following an explosion in Syria's Quneitra province as Syrian rebels clash with President Bashar Assad’s forces, seen from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Aug. 28. /AP/Ariel Schalit — Smoke rises following an explosion in Syria’s Quneitra province as Syrian rebels clashed with Bashar Assad’s forces, seen from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Aug. 28. /AP/Ariel Schalit

In heavy fighting, the rebels, led by Al Qaida’s Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant, repulsed a Syrian Army operation to re-capture the village of Misahra on Sept. 6.

More than 10,000 rebels, representing 30 militias, have been stationed in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. About 25 percent of the fighters were said to have been trained by the CIA in Jordan.

“Rebels have since taken control of hills overlooking the border post, as well as several villages nearby,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sept. 7. “A large number of troops have been killed on both sides.”

Syrian Observatory said at least 26 Syrian soldiers and 17 Islamist fighters were killed on Sept. 6 around Misahra. The group said the Israel Air Force was said to have attacked the Syrian Army’s 90th Brigade in Quneitra and three soldiers were killed.

CIA-trained rebels among Islamists holding off Syrian forces near Golan Heights, Misahra, Quneitra, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

CIA-trained rebels among Islamists holding off Syrian forces near Golan Heights added by World Tribune on September 8, 2014
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