Israeli uav drone downed in Quneitra by Syrian Army. Photo: Alchetron.

The Syrian army and Lebanon-based Iranian proxy terrorist organization Hezbollah are coordinating a large-scale “anti-terrorism” operation in southern Syria, near the border with Israel in the Golan Heights, the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars reported on Monday.

According to the report, the purpose of the operation is to “end militancy” in the area adjacent to the border.

Anonymous “sources” quoted in the report said, “Hezbollah has deployed a large number of its forces at the Quneitra passage, which has connected the Syrian territories to the occupied Golan.”

Fars is aligned with the regime of Islamic Republic, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad against rebel forces — among them ISIS — in the country’s raging civil war. It claimed that late last month,

Fatah al-Sham (the newly-formed al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) suffered a heavy death toll and its military hardware sustained major damage in Syrian Army troops’ attacks on their centers in Quneitra.

Syrian army men targeted gatherings and concentration centers Fatah al-Sham near the village of Um Batna South of al-Ba’ath town, killing several terrorists and destroying three vehicles carrying a number terrorists and large volume of weapons and ammunition.

On Sunday, as Reuters reported, the IDF confirmed that it had retaliated against “errant mortar fire” from Syria that hit the Israeli side of Golan Heights. The mortar fire caused no Israeli casualties. IAF jets responded by targeting “cannons of the Syrian regime.”

As The Algemeiner reported in July, though the IDF defines the Syrian border as “stable” — despite a number of incidents of stray fire and mortar-landings — Israel is bracing itself for the “day after” a diplomatic arrangement is reached in Syria.

According to the report, Israel’s assessment is that after the warring sides in Syria achieve understandings, jihadists will turn their attention to and aim their fire at Israel. This possibility was behind a series of drills conducted by the IDF’s Golani Brigade along the Syrian and Lebanese borders earlier in the summer to train for combat against ISIS and Hezbollah terrorists, against which the Israeli military fought a war in Lebanon 10 years ago.