Israeli forces detain 4 Syrians in Quneitra incursion

ISTANBUL

Israeli army forces detained four Syrians Sunday during an incursion in Quneitra province in the country’s southwest, local media said.

Troops arrested four young men from the same family in the al-Hafayer area of Khan Arnabah in Quneitra, the state-run TV channel Ikhbariyah reported.

The arrest came hours after five military vehicles moved into the town of Saida al-Golan in southern Quneitra before pulling back afterwards. Israeli forces also raided the outskirts of Ma’riya village, west of Daraa province.

Israeli incursions in Quneitra have recently intensified, with locals complaining of Tel Aviv’s advances into their farmland as well as the destruction of hundreds of acres of forests, arrests of residents, and the establishment of military checkpoints.

According to government data, the Israeli army had carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces since December 2024.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria.