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Israeli patrol along the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights (illustration). REUTERS / Ammar Awad

The Syrian Army has sent large reinforcements of men and equipment west of the southern province of Deraa, near the border with Israel's occupied Golan, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 'man. These troop movements come in a context of strong tensions with Israel.

With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh

Reinforcements sent by the Syrian Army near the Israel-occupied Golan border line on the Daraa Province side include soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and ammunition, according to the report. the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the OSDH.

These troop movements come as Israel has stepped up its air operations recently over Syria. On Friday, an Israeli drone was neutralized over the southern province of Quneitra, probably by electronic means, and seized by the Syrian army, according to the OSDH.

The official Syrian news agency Sana said the plane was armed with cluster bombs. The day before, an armed drone was shot down south of Damascus.

These developments come at a time when positions held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their Lebanese and Iraqi allies are being targeted by air raids in the region of Bou Kamal, near the border with Iraq. This region has been targeted at least three times in recent weeks, probably by Israeli aircraft.

The purpose of these raids is to prevent the official reopening of the Syrian-Iraqi border and to restore, at the same time, a land corridor from Iran to the Mediterranean, via Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.