Jerusalem/Amman — Israel and Jordan said on Thursday their forces had killed Islamic State (IS) insurgents who approached their borders after being squeezed out of southwestern Syria by the army of President Bashar al-Assad. In a nod to his battlefield gains, Israel described victory by Assad, who is on a last push to restore his rule after more than seven years of civil war, as a fait accompli that could calm the Golan Heights. The strategic plateau divides Israel and Syria, old foes, and saw decades of stable stand-off before the Syrian rebellion. Meanwhile, in a major change to the preconflict 2011 status quo, Russian military police began deploying on the Syrian-held Golan and planned to set up eight observation posts in the area, the defence ministry in Moscow said. After weeks of intensive Russian-backed bombing, Syrian forces have seized the lush farmland where the Yarmouk River flows that was once controlled by a group affiliated to IS known as the Khaled Bin Walid Army. The...
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