By Rasa Evrensel and Rania Abu Shamala
ISTANBUL (AA) - Israeli forces raided the countryside of Quneitra province in southern Syria on Saturday, setting up a checkpoint and intimidating and assaulting civilians, according to local media.
The Syrian state-run Alikhbaria TV said on the US social media company X that “Israeli occupation forces, during their incursion into the Quneitra countryside, set up a checkpoint on the road linking the towns of Ofania and Jubata al-Khashab, while carrying out acts of intimidation and assaults against civilians.”
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government on the nature or outcome of the incursion, which comes as part of Israel’s ongoing violations of Syrian sovereignty.
In recent months, the Israeli army has staged several cross-border raids into Syria’s southern provinces, including Quneitra, despite international calls for halting violations of Syria’s sovereignty.
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.