[29] The name "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra" refers to the January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident, in which several high level Hezbollah and IRGC members were killed in an Israeli strike.
[56] On 8 February, government forces bombarded multiple towns in Daraa province[57] and heavy fighting ensued which left 11 rebels dead.
[26] Meanwhile, in Rif Dimashq province government troops managed to capture Tall Marri hill, but were unable to advance towards the town of Deir Makir.
[60] The capture of Tall Marri hill was significant because it cut a rebel supply line and increased the isolation of rebel-held pockets around the city of Damascus.
[63] By the end of the day, the Army, supported by the NDF, Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, advanced in the al-Ollayqat area near Deir al-Adas.
[67] On the morning of 10 February, the Army ambushed a group of Al-Nusra Front rebels at the village of Mahjat, in northern Daraa, leaving between 8 and 19 fighters dead.
[68][69] Meanwhile, fighting in Der al-Adas left another eight rebels dead,[70] while government troops advanced and captured Deir Makir,[71][72] al-Danaji[73][74] and Habariyah.
[88] Still, the military captured the Ghirbal area of the town of Kafr Nasij, where fighters from Deir al-Adas had retreated to and were continuing to fight.
[95] Two Iranian IRGC officers (one of them a colonel) were killed in Kafr Nasij that day,[18] while two reporters from the pro-government Al-Ekhbariya TV channel were wounded by rebel shelling on Deir al-Adas.
[106] On 25 February, after three days of inactivity due to harsh weather,[107] Hezbollah made an attempt to capture Al-Hamidiyyeh[108] and reportedly killed 16 rebels.
[9][114][115] On 1 March, the Army made new attempts to advance at Kafr Shams,[116] while they captured Tall al-Bazzaq[117] and Rajm al-Sayd hill, also known as Tal al-Sayyad.
[10] At this point, the Army stated they had completed the first phase of their offensive, creating a buffer-zone between northwest Daraa and the West Ghouta area of Rif Dimashq.
[20] That day, an operation room, consisting of Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar ash-Sham, Jamaat Bayt al-Maqdis al-Islamiya and the Islamic Muthanna Movement, was established in Daraa.
[121] Four days later, Lebanese, Hezbollah-affiliated, television station Al-Manar reported that 120 Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, including three field commanders, were killed in another air-raid in Quneitra province.
[125] The same day, an ambush in Khan Arnaba, in Quneitra province, conducted by government troops left six rebels dead and many others missing.
[138] The offensive was seen as a strategic Axis of Resistance effort against Israel as well as an attempt to broaden the appeal of the Axis to groups such as Hamas,[34] Following the offensive, as part of the internal disputes in regard to the Iranians, Maj. Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh was severely attacked by Lt. Gen. Rafik Shehadeh's bodyguards for disagreeing with the role of foreign forces aiding government troops, and both were reportedly fired from their positions.
[140] Jordan signaled as a result of the offensive that it was no longer willing to tolerate the Syrian government's increasing reliance upon Iranian and Hezbollah support, with a Jordanian official stating "We cannot allow Iran to come to our backyard.
[143] In the opinion of Jeffrey White from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the offensive "produced small gains with substantial regime casualties" and the intervention of government allies, due to its declining capabilities, could not change the outcome.