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Hezbollah prepares for Israeli border operation as Geneva talks begin

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Hezbollah is reportedly preparing for a major offensive alongside President Assad’s troops in Syria, close to the Israeli border.

The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency reported: “The Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters have been working on a joint plan to end militancy in Southern Syria, particularly near the Golan Heights.”

The story did not provide any further details of when such an operation might take place. However, it added: “Hezbollah has deployed a large number of its forces at Quneitra passage which has connected the Syrian territories to the occupied Golan.”

Hezbollah has been fighting alongside Assad’s forces for much of the five-year Syrian civil war. On occasion, the Iranian-backed terror group has attempted to attack Israeli forces near the Syria-Israel border, prompting an Israeli response. Israeli leaders have long speculated that Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, is looking to open a new front against Israel from Syria.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to meet in Geneva today in order to discuss a possible move towards a ceasefire in Syria. The meeting was announced earlier this week, following talks between Presidents Obama and Putin at the G20 summit in China.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said that the Kerry-Lavrov meeting “follows recent conversations on Syria and will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving towards a political solution needed to end the civil war”.

In a separate development, it was confirmed yesterday that the top military commander of the Islamist terror group Jabhat Fateh al Sham was killed in an air strike in Aleppo province. Abu Omar Saraqeb, also known as Abu Hajer al Homs headed the al-Qaeda affiliated terror group, which was formerly the al-Nusra Front. Reuters suggested that he was likely killed in a US-led air strike.