Israeli Forces Advance into Quneitra Countryside, Detain Several Syrians
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Israeli forces advanced on Wednesday into the northern countryside of Quneitra, in southwestern Syria, setting up a temporary checkpoint in what it described as the latest violation of existing security agreements between the two sides.
According to the agency, an Israeli unit comprising two tanks and four military vehicles entered the town of Jabbata al-Khashab and established a checkpoint at the entrance to the quarries along the road leading to Ain al-Baida village. The forces reportedly detained several Syrian civilians working at a local stone quarry.
Syrian state television added that Israeli troops had carried out a similar operation earlier in the southern village of al-Maariyah, during which two individuals suspected of links to armed groups were arrested.
In response, the Foreign Ministry of Syria’s transitional government condemned what it described on the platform X as Israel’s “daily incursions” into Syrian territory, calling them a “blatant violation” of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two sides in the Golan Heights. The ministry urged the international community to take “immediate measures to stop Israel’s repeated acts of aggression.”
Damascus has accused Israel of intensifying its military operations in southern Syria since late 2024, following the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad. Syrian Transitional Prime Minister Ahmad al-Sharaa previously stated that the Israeli military had conducted over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 ground incursions into Syrian territory since that time.
The latest incursion comes amid rising tensions along the ceasefire line in Quneitra, where local residents have complained of destroyed farmland, damaged forests, and repeated searches and checkpoints imposed by Israeli forces, according to Syrian media reports.
