File photo : A child looks on as Israeli soldiers patrol in the Syrian town of Jubata al-Khashab, in the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. AFP
The Israeli troops, backed by armoured vehicles, conducted searches and deployed on rooftops as drones flew overhead.
According to Al Arabiya, four young men from the villages of Khan Arnabeh, Jubata al-Khashab, and Ofaniya were arrested during house raids.
This is not the first time Israeli forces have detained Syrians in the south. Since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime on 8 December 2024, Israel has conducted multiple incursions and arrests in the area.
Israeli forces have also entered the buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights, taken additional Syrian territory, and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites across Syria.
The latest incursion comes a day after Syria announced it was working with the United States to reach mutual "security understandings" with Israel, which has called for the demilitarization of southern Syria.
The announcement was part of a US- and Jordan-backed roadmap to restore stability in the south after sectarian violence that triggered Israeli intervention. A Syrian military official told AFP that heavy weapons had already been withdrawn from the area.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said Washington, “in consultation with the Syrian government, will work to reach security understandings with Israel concerning southern Syria that address the legitimate security concerns of both Syria and Israel.”
The week of violence in Druze-majority Sweida province began on 13 July with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin and quickly escalated, drawing in government forces and tribal fighters from other regions.
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa told Syria’s Al-Ikhbariya TV in a recent interview that the country is negotiating a security agreement “to restore Israel to what it was before 8 December.”
Damascus has repeatedly condemned Israeli airstrikes and incursions in Quneitra, Daraa, and the Damascus countryside, saying they hinder efforts to stabilize the south and violate both international law and the 1974 disengagement agreement.
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