The Syrian regime is disguising Iran-allied militias as its own fighters, according to rebels, a battlefield feint that appears calculated to try to avoid further Israeli air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria, said a Wall Street Journal report on Friday. Israel, which has said it will allow forces loyal to Iran to entrench near its border, has watched closely as the regime and its allies appear to be preparing a military assault on rebels in southwestern Syria. After initially appearing to withdraw, military convoys of Lebanese “Hezbollah” fighters and other Iran-backed militias have returned to both Daraa and Quneitra provinces in Syria’s southwest near Israel, dressed in Syrian regime military uniforms and under Syrian flags, according to multiple rebel commanders. The convoys that returned were equipped with rockets and missiles, one of the rebel commanders said. “It’s a camouflage,” said Ahmad Azam, a commander with the rebel Salvation Army, a rebel group based in Quneitra. “They are leaving…in their ‘Hezbollah’ uniform and they are returning in regime vehicles and dressed in regular [Syrian] regime uniforms.” Israel sees an Iranian presence on its border as a potential existential threat. Last month, the country carried out its largest-ever military operation against Iranian positions in Syria, striking dozens of sites. An Israeli official did not directly address the allegations of uniform switching, but said: “You can be sure that Israel is very much aware of basically everything happening in our backyard.” The disguise tactic is a sign of just how much the Syrian regime depends on Iranian-backed forces—as well as Russian air cover—for its territorial advances. After more than seven years of conflict, the ranks of the Syrian regime’s forces have been depleted by deaths and defections, said WSJ. Many of the foreign fighters—which in addition to those from Lebanon and Iran include Iraqis and Afghans—were given Syrian identification cards, Azam said. Another rebel commander said that the Syrian IDs belonged to men who had died in battles in the past few years. “Hezbollah” and Iran have worked for years to entrench themselves in Syria’s south, including forming new militias made up of Syrian fighters but with foreign loyalties, said Diaa al-Hariri, an anti-regime activist from Daraa. “I don’t think Iran is willing to leave without a war after all its efforts,” he said, according to WSJ. The alleged ruse comes ahead of a meeting between the US, Russia and Jordan to discuss how to maintain a fragile ceasefire in the country’s south—including Daraa and Quneitra. Syrian officials declined to comment Thursday. Syrian regime media has been mostly quiet about military plans for the southwest, while pro-regime media said foreign fighters were pulling out ahead of an imminent assault.