BFF-74 Jordan says army kills IS jihadists who tried to breach border

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SYRIA-CONFLICT-JORDAN-JIHADISTS

Jordan says army kills IS jihadists who tried to breach border

AMMAN, Aug 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Jordanian army on Thursday said it
had killed a number of Islamic State group jihadists who tried to approach
its northern border with Syria.

The incident on Tuesday came as clashes raged between Syrian regime
forces and “a gang of Daesh (IS) terrorists” in the Yarmuk Basin region of
southwestern Syria, an army statement said.

IS jihadists “tried to approach our border” but Jordanian troops
prevented them by pounding them “with all types of weapons” and “killing a
number of them”, it added, without specifying how many.

The operation to secure the area continued into Wednesday, the statement
said.

The Jordanian army said that on the Syrian side of the border, regime
forces cornered the jihadists in a pocket of southern Syria around the Yarmuk
Basin and neighbouring villages.

On Tuesday, Syrian media and a war monitor reported heavy clashes between
regime forces and IS jihadists surrounded in a wedge of territory in southern
Daraa province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nearly 100
jihadists from the IS-allied Army of Khaled Ben al-Walid were cornered in
their last redoubt.

Syrian state television reported that army units were locked in fierce
fighting in “the last pockets of the IS terrorist group”.

The Jordanian announcement came as Israel’s army said it had killed seven
militants believed to be linked to IS in an air strike late Wednesday.

The militants were believed to be trying to infiltrate Israel from the
Syrian Golan Heights, the Israeli army said.

The Yarmuk Basin area is near both the Jordanian border and the Israeli-
held part of the Golan plateau.

On Wednesday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a message to his
troops they were close to winning the country’s seven-year-war, telling them
“victory is near”.

BSS/AFP/RY/1901 hrs