Al Jazeera News :Fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and armed opposition groups has continued in the Quneitra province of the country’s southwest as locals report a massive build-up of troops and pro-government militias in several towns. Opposition groups retook Quneitra after the Syrian army briefly controlled it on Saturday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The escalation of clashes comes just days after the Syrian government launched a major offensive in the Quneitra province, situated on the border of the roughly 70 percent of the Golan Heights under Israeli occupation since 1967. Modar Shanwan, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Command Council in Quneitra and the Golan, a coalition of armed opposition groups, said that government forces “breached [the Quneitra province] down the middle” and were “supported by militias” and artillery bombardments. “But the revolutionaries recovered control of the Samdaniah village” over the weekend, he told Al Jazeera, referring to a village that the Syrian government had taken over on Thursday. “Assad’s militias [later] tried to sneak back in [and] dozens of them were killed.” The spokesman also said that government forces had dropped barrel bombs on the area in recent days. In mid-2015, Quneitra-based opposition groups launched an offensive aimed at expelling all government forces from the province. Rebels have expanded their control throughout most of the region. Yet, the Syrian government has maintained control of two key towns in Quneitra’s countryside, al-Baath and Khan Arnabah, despite rebel groups’ repeated attempts to overrun them. Abu Omar al-Jolani, a Quneitra-based media activist, said that the Golan’s hilly, rugged terrain “helps the regime” and makes it difficult for opposition groups to advance in Khan Arnabah and al-Baath.
