Israeli Troops Establish Temporary Checkpoints During Southern Syria Incursions
QUNEITRA- Israeli forces established a temporary checkpoint in Syria’s southern Quneitra province on Sunday after advancing along the Al-Hiran–Al-Rafid road, Syrian state media reported, in the latest of a series of cross-border operations that have heightened tensions along the frontier.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, three Israeli military vehicles entered the southern countryside of Quneitra, where troops stopped and searched civilian pedestrians and passing vehicles. No arrests or clashes were reported during the operation.
The reported incursion followed a similar operation on Saturday in the village of Al-Ajraf in northern Quneitra, where Syrian media said Israeli troops set up a temporary checkpoint, searched civilians and installed a large surveillance camera before dismantling it and withdrawing.
Also on Saturday, Syria’s Al-Ekhbariya television reported that Israeli forces entered the Wadi Al-Raqad area in the western countryside of neighboring Daraa province. The report said troops established a checkpoint near the Wadi Al-Raqad bridge, searched a house and later withdrew without making arrests.
Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the reported operations.
The latest incursions come after months of repeated Israeli military activity in southern Syria following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in a rebel offensive on Dec. 8, 2024.
Since Assad’s removal from power, Israeli forces have moved beyond the occupied Golan Heights into parts of the United Nations-monitored buffer zone established under the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, according to Syrian officials and human rights organizations, which argue the operations violate the accord.
Rights monitors say Israeli troops have conducted repeated ground incursions, house searches, detentions and land-clearing operations in Quneitra and Daraa during recent months.
Amnesty International said in a report released in May that Israeli forces destroyed or damaged at least 23 civilian structures in three villages during the six months following Assad’s fall, displacing families from their homes. The organization said the destruction of civilian property in southern Syria should be investigated as possible war crimes.
Human Rights Watch also criticized Israel’s decision in April to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights after the Israeli government approved a plan valued at $334 million to increase the number of Israeli civilians living in the territory.
Israeli officials have said military operations inside southern Syria are intended to protect Israel’s border and prevent weapons from reaching what they describe as hostile forces. Reports cited in the source material said Israeli troops have operated up to approximately 15 kilometers inside Syrian territory.
