Jordanian army kills IS members approaching border

AMMAN - The Jordanian army on Thursday said it had killed a number of Islamic State group jihadists who tried to approach its northern border with Syria.
The incident on Tuesday came as clashes raged between Syrian regime forces and "a gang of Daesh (IS) terrorists" in the Yarmuk Basin region of southwestern Syria, an army statement said.
IS jihadists "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 jihadists in a pocket of southern Syria around the Yarmuk Basin and neighbouring villages.
On Tuesday, Syrian media and a war monitor reported heavy clashes between regime forces and IS jihadists surrounded in a wedge of territory in southern Daraa province.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nearly 100 jihadists 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 Wednesday.
The militants were believed to be trying to infiltrate Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights, the Israeli army said.
The Yarmuk 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".