October 12, 2026
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented about 280 armed incursions by Israeli forces into Syrian territory during the month of September, recording the highest monthly toll since the beginning of the year, and warning of the serious humanitarian repercussions of these operations on civilians.
UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Manto said documented violations included raids on homes, restrictions on freedom of movement, intimidation, harassment and detention of civilians, as well as the destruction of livelihoods and agricultural crops.
Manto explained that information indicates the continued detention of at least 49 Syrians in Israel, while the “Sijil” Center, which specializes in documenting violations in southern Syria, reported that the number of detainees reached 39 people until the end of September, who were arrested at different periods following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024. She added, based on the testimonies of released detainees, that some cases of detention extended for more than a year without charges being brought or Reporting of reasons, including transfers between unknown detention facilities.
The reports included accusations that detainees were subjected to ill-treatment and torture, including beatings, being forced to stand for long periods, and shooting police dogs at them, in addition to threats to harm them and their family members. In the same context, at least 14 people were released during the months of August and September after being detained for long periods, coinciding with the documentation of new arrests.
In the most recent field operations, the Commission received reports that a Syrian farmer with disabilities was shot and temporarily detained during an incursion into the town of Jubata al-Khashab, north of Quneitra, in addition to the killing of the citizen Muhammad Dabour from the town of Juba by Israeli forces’ fire near the town of al-Hamidiya.
For his part, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for prompt and impartial investigations into these incidents, calling on Israel to stop the practices of raiding villages, restricting movement, and destroying crops, and to fully comply with the guarantees of international law.
On the field level, the “Syria Now” network reported that an Israeli patrol consisting of three cars penetrated, on Saturday, the road to the villages of Arnah and Darbol in the western Damascus countryside, where it conducted searches of passersby and cars in conjunction with a low flight of a reconnaissance plane over the Beit Jinn farm. The western countryside of Daraa also witnessed the incursion of two Israeli vehicles at the outskirts of the village of Jamla to interrogate farmers and restrict movement near Wadi al-Raqqad, while eight military vehicles entered, on Friday evening, into the areas of Sanad and al-Hayadara in the central countryside of Quneitra to search homes.
These field developments come in light of Israel’s expansion of its military operations inside Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and the advance of its forces towards the buffer zone in the Golan and neighboring sites. In this context, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa stressed, last September, Damascus’s commitment to the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the lines before December 8, 2024. This came in line with the position of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who affirmed his categorical rejection of violating Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, calling on Israel to adhere to the aforementioned agreement.
