The repercussions of the escalating Israeli military movements in the Quneitra and Daraa governorates in southern Syria continue, leaving a worsening humanitarian and living crisis as a result of incursions, inspections, arrests, and the establishment of military sites, as well as restrictions imposed on farmers’ access to their lands.
In the most recent of the two fields, the official Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that an Israeli force stormed, on Saturday, the Al-Rafid area in the Quneitra countryside, where it searched a number of homes and assaulted an elderly man, coinciding with the entry of military vehicles and shooting from a bear in the vicinity of the village of Taranja, before the forces withdrew from the area.
This incident comes as an extension of a series of violations, as SANA documented, last Tuesday, the arrest of a civilian while herding sheep west of Rafid and his transfer to the occupied Syrian Golan, amid continuation of raids and arrests.
In the same context, an investigation published by the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” on Friday, and based on the testimonies of residents, former detainees, reserve soldiers, Syrian officials, and statements from local organizations, revealed that Israeli forces imposed control and a military presence on an area of approximately 600 square kilometers, including parts of Quneitra and the western countryside of Daraa, distributed among nine military points.
The investigation showed that the Israeli presence is accompanied by night raids, searches of homes, vehicles, and phones, erecting temporary checkpoints, and checking the identities of civilians, in addition to the demolition of 17 homes since the start of the deployment. Farmers also confirmed to the newspaper that these measures deprived them of access to their lands located near the fence or spreading areas, which paralyzed their agricultural activity.
In terms of arrests, data from the Sajil Center, reported by Haaretz, indicated that 248 cases of arrests of Syrians were documented between December 8, 2024 and September 1 of this year, more than 60 of whom were transferred to detention centers inside Israel or in the West Bank.
On the other hand, the Israeli army issued a response, reported by the newspaper, stating that its operations in southern Syria come in implementation of the directives of the political level and security assessments, and aim to protect the residents of the Golan and prevent hostile armed parties from establishing their presence near the border, adding that the arrests target suspects who pose a threat to Israel and its forces.
These data are consistent with reports documented by Syrian and local sources during the month of September, which showed a series of incursions and artillery shelling in Quneitra and Daraa. In this context, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that it documented 11 ground incursions and eight bombing rounds between September 18 and 24 in various areas of Quneitra, Daraa, and the Damascus countryside, affecting populated areas, agricultural lands, and the vicinity of the buffer zone.
