Key facts
- Israeli forces conducted a raid in Syria's Quneitra countryside.
- A temporary military checkpoint was established on the road to Saida al-Jolan.
- Israeli troops searched civilians before withdrawing.
- Over the past year, Israel has established nine military posts in southern Syria.
- Israel has seized an estimated 600-800 square kilometers of southern Syrian territory.
- Permanent gates have been installed at village entrances in Quneitra.
Israeli forces reportedly raided an area in Syria's Quneitra countryside on Monday, setting up a temporary military checkpoint. According to Syria's Alikhbariya TV, troops installed the checkpoint on the main road leading to the village of Saida al-Jolan.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have established nine military posts in southern Syria, constructed military installations less than one kilometer from villages, demolished at least 12 buildings in al-Hamidiya, razed over 45 hectares of the Jubata al-Khashab forest, and seized thousands of dunams of agricultural land. Local officials told Drop Site News that Israel has illegally seized between 600 and 800 square kilometers of southern Syrian territory through more than 200 incursions.
Israeli military operations in the area have escalated, with troops displacing residents, destroying farmland, and taking people across the border to Israeli detention centers. In one of the deadliest attacks over the past year, thirteen Syrians were killed in an Israeli military raid on the southern village of Beit Jinn. The border area was previously a UN-patrolled, demilitarized buffer zone established in a 1974 disengagement agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated he wants a new "buffer zone" on Syrian land stretching to the capital. Last month, Israeli soldiers installed a permanent yellow gate at the entrance to al-Samadaniyah al-Gharbiyah, cutting the village off from neighboring towns and obstructing the main road. This was the fifth permanent gate erected by the Israeli military across Quneitra since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Netanyahu visited Israeli military positions in Syria last week, prompting widespread condemnation.
Israeli forces have repeatedly entered Syrian territory and launched air strikes, killing civilians and destroying Syrian military sites. Syrian government data indicates that since December 2024, Israel has carried out over 1,000 air strikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces. After the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, violating a 1974 agreement.