The Monday fighting came as Syrian troops have been battling the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front terrorist elements in the area since the armed gang seized control of the UN-operated crossing at Qunaitra with suspected support from the Israeli regime’s military officers. 

Persistent small arms fire and explosions from mortar shells and other munitions could be heard on the Israeli-occupied side of the frontier of the strategic plateau, Western press reports said.

At least one tank belonging to the Syrian army forces was also involved and al-Nusra terrorist could be seen a few meters away from the frontier fence, reports indicate.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed on Sunday that it shot down a drone that flew from Syria into Israeli-occupied airspace over the Golan.

It was not immediately clear who dispatched the unmanned aircraft or the nature of its mission in an area where fighting from the foreign-sponsored insurgency war on Syria has occasionally spilled over into the Israeli-occupied territory.

In a statement, the Zionist military claimed the drone was downed by a Patriot missile near the Qunaitra crossing between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria.

This is while a contingent of 44 UN peacekeepers from Fiji was detained on the Syrian side of the Golan by armed insurgents on Thursday, and the head of the Fijian army said Sunday that negotiations for their release were underway.

More than 70 Philippine troops trapped by al-Nusra terrorists in a different area on the Syrian side of the frontier were rescued to safety, the United Nations and authorities in Manila said.

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