Israeli forces raid Quneitra countryside in latest violation of Syria’s sovereignty

By Abdulsalam Fayez and Betul Yilmaz

DAMASCUS / ISTANBUL (AA) – Israeli forces staged a new raid into Syria’s southern Quneitra countryside on Monday, violating the country’s sovereignty, local media reported.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said that Israeli forces set up a military checkpoint on a road linking the towns of Samdaniya al-Sharqiya and Khan Arnabah in the Quneitra countryside after raiding the area with two 4x4 vehicles.

Israeli forces later withdrew from the area, the agency said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army or Syrian authorities on the report.

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.

On Sunday, four young Syrians from the same family were arrested by Israeli forces during a raid in Khan Arnabaah.

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.