Beirut: Iran-backed forces in southern Syria withdrew about 40 kilometres from the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a monitoring group said, amid Israeli pressure to oust them from Syria altogether.
The fighters, including members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, pulled back after reaching a deal with Russia, Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said by phone. Russia’s military is backing government forces in Syria’s civil war, along with Iran and affiliated militias.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited Russia several times in recent months to press to bar Iran from establishing a permanent presence anywhere in Syria as the war winds down and its various parties consolidate gains.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month that agreements with the US and Jordan imply that all non-Syrian forces will be withdrawn from Syria’s southern frontier. Last week, Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah said the group would only pull out at the Syrian government’s request.
