Israel-Syria border
Israel-Syria borderiStock

The Syrian government has sent military reinforcements to the southern border with Israel on the Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Saturday.

The reinforcements include soldiers, tanks, and other military vehicles, according to the SOHR.

The military buildup follows reports in Syrian state media that forces shot down a drone in the Quneitra province in southern Syria in the second such incident in 48 hours.

Authorities "dismantled a drone" after it was shot down on the edge of Jabal al-Sheikh in the Quneitra countryside, southwest of Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.

The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesman said the drone did not come from his country and was likely Iranian.

"What is certain is that it is not an (Israeli army) drone," Avichay Adraee said on Twitter.

"Today we see proof... that (Iran's elite Quds Force commander) Qassem Soleimani does whatever he wants in Syria, and of course does not tell" the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

On Thursday, another drone was downed by Syrian anti-aircraft defenses over the village of Aqraba, south of Damascus, SANA reported, also without specifying the origin of the drone.

SOHR confirmed the downing of the drone on Saturday but was unable to confirm if it was hit by forces of the Syrian regime, or its ally, the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.