Jordan says army kills IS militants who tried to breach border

The Jordanian army on Thursday said it had killed a number of Islamic State group militants who tried to approach its northern border with Syria.

The incident came as clashes raged on Tuesday between Syrian regime forces and "a gang of Daesh (IS) terrorists" in the Yarmouk Basin region of south-western Syria, an army statement said.

IS militants "tried to approach our border" but Jordanian troops prevented them by pounding them "with all types of weapons" and "killing a number of them", it added, without specifying how many.

The operation to secure the area continued into Wednesday, the statement said.

The Jordanian army said that on the Syrian side of the border, regime forces cornered the militants in a pocket of southern Syria around the Yarmouk Basin and neighbouring villages.

On Tuesday, Syrian media and a war monitor reported heavy clashes between regime forces and IS militants surrounded in a wedge of territory in southern Daraa province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nearly 100 militants from the IS-allied Army of Khaled Ben al-Walid were cornered in their last redoubt.

Syrian state television reported that army units were locked in fierce fighting in "the last pockets of the IS terrorist group".

The Jordanian announcement came as Israel's army said it had killed seven militants believed to be linked to IS in an air strike late on Wednesday.

The militants were believed to be trying to infiltrate Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights, the Israeli army said.

The Yarmouk Basin area is near both the Jordanian border and the Israeli-held part of the Golan plateau.

On Wednesday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a message to his troops they were close to winning the country's seven-year-war, telling them "victory is near".