Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The Syrian military has headed toward the border with Israel and Jordan for an offensive against Sunni rebels.

The opposition said the Syrian Army and Air Force launched a major offensive against U.S.-trained rebels near the frontier with Israel and Jordan.

The opposition said the military deployed fighter-jets, attack helicopters, artillery and surface-to-surface missiles to pound rebel strongholds in the southern provinces of Dera and Quneitra.

“Violent clashes have continued between Islamic battalions and regime forces in the vicinity of Nawa city amid the fall of three surface-to-surface missiles and two air raids on the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian Observatory said the military offensive in Dera began on May 17 and aimed to recapture towns and military positions lost to the rebels over the last few months. The British-based opposition group reported scores of casualties.

Opposition sources said the air force was making heavy use of so-called
barrel bombs, containers filled with explosives and shrapnel dropped from
helicopters. They said the hardest hit areas were Nawa and Jabiya.

“The helicopters dropped explosive barrels onto the northern
neighborhood in the city of Nawa accompanied with six barrels bombs on the
town of Jasem,” Syrian Observatory said on May 18.

The military offensive took place as some 40,000 troops were laying
siege to the northern city of Aleppo. The sources said the regime of
President Bashar Assad was intensifying operations throughout Syria ahead of
presidential elections in June 2014.

“The army on May 18 gained full control of Umm Al Awsaj in the Sanamein
region in the Dera countryside,” the official Syrian news agency SANA said.
“A military source told SANA that the army opened the road that connected
Sanamein-Zamreen to Tal Al Hara after it had eliminated a large number of
terrorists.”

The Army, backed by the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah, has also attacked
rebel positions in Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. The
Golan offensive was said to have begun on May 16 with the army firing 100
rockets and the air force conducting strikes in attacks on the Nusra Front
for the Defense of the Levant.

“The Army wants to recapture hills seized by rebels over the last few
weeks that connect the Dera and Quneitra provinces,” Syrian Observatory
said.

  Bashar Assad, Dera, Golan Heights, Israel borders, Jordan, Quneitra, Syrian forces advance against U.S.-backed rebels near Israel, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights