Israel steps up incursions into southern Syria, detains four in Quneitra

• Israel’s latest operations add to repeated incursions and detentions in southern Syria
• Arab states have condemned Israeli earthworks in Quneitra as violations of Syrian sovereignty

Updated 8 min 29 sec ago

October 18, 2026
06:13

DAMASCUS: Israeli forces carried out fresh incursions into southern Syria on Saturday, detaining four people in Quneitra province and advancing into the western countryside of Daraa, in the latest episodes of a broader series of cross‑border violations against Syrian territory and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

Military convoys entered multiple zones of Quneitra, conducting home searches and arresting individuals who appeared to be traveling toward cultivated fields; reports from the Syrian state news agency SANA described the encounters.

In the northern reaches of the Quneitra countryside, armored units moved west past the settlement of Tarjanah, intercepting suspects heading to nearby farmland, as confirmed by SANA operatives.

Within the southern region, a formation exceeding ten vehicles penetrated the Al‑Razzaniyah and Abu Madhra farmsteads, searching households and producing two arresticion victims; one person was released after a lengthy hold before the deployment withdrew.

Reconnaissance flights operating over the western Yarmouk basin shadowed ground pressure, reinforcing the intensity of the operation sequence.

The rapid series of moves builds on a prior Israeli advance last Friday targeting habitat near Al‑Razaniya farm in Quneitra, where artillery was fired at villagers attempting to graze livestock before soldiers retreated; additional actions included the enclosure of the Yarmouk Basin town of Abdeen.

These activities illustrate a persistent pattern whereby Israeli forces enter southern Syrian space, penetrate civilian neighborhoods, raid inhabited dwellings, detain citizens, carry out land clearance measures, and launch targeting strikes that contravene the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and competing international norms.

Israel has widened barrier constructions along the contested “Sufa 53 Line” in Quneitra, prompting condemnation from Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait, who labeled the earthworks and trench diggings as breaches of Syrian territorial integrity and urged concrete diplomatic pressure to demand full Israeli withdrawal.

The Syrian foreign ministry reiterated that such earthworks and concurrent military deployments are flagrant infringements of the cease‑fire pact and prior United Nations monitoring arrangements, warning that ongoing provocations threaten regional stability.

The 1974 mutual‑security accord, drafted following the 1973 Lebanese conflict, established a demilitarized corridor separating Israeli‑occupied blocks from controlled Syrian zones under continuous international observation.

Damascus maintains that every Israeli ground installation and related combat maneuver violates these obligations, stating unequivocally that Russian‑backed forces occupy Syrian soil illegally and that comprehensive exit remains imperative for future peace.

Source link