Israel abducts several people from southern Syria for ‘interrogation’

JERUSALEM/ANKARA

The Israeli army said Sunday that it seized several individuals during raids in southern Syria and took them inside Israel for interrogation.

A military statement said that forces of the army’s 210th Division conducted several raids in southern Syria over the last week against what it called “weapons warehouses.”

The army said several people were held and brought into Israeli for “detailed questioning.”

Although the new Syrian administration has not issued threats against Israel, the Israeli military has intensified its operations inside Syria since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024.

These operations have included deadly airstrikes that killed civilians and destroyed Syrian army positions, vehicles, and ammunition. Israeli forces have also carried out incursions into the Quneitra and Rif Dimashq provinces.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the majority of Syria’s Golan Heights. In the aftermath of Assad’s fall, Tel Aviv expanded its control into the Syrian buffer zone and declared the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria defunct.

Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long grip on power that began in 1963.

A new transitional administration led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa was formed in Syria in January.