Israeli troops continue to launch incursions into Syria’s Quneitra Governorate, with forces entering and setting up temporary checkpoints in a number of area, and others raiding towns and villages to harass locals.
One of the operations Sunday saw Israeli troops capture four members of the same Syrian family. The IDF has not addressed the operation, and it is as yet unclear if the four are still in custody or have been quietly released. The four were captured near Khan Arnabah.
Though young Syrian men finding themselves summarily detained by Israeli troops happens on occasion, the IDF rarely comments on it to the media. When they do, the captives are presented as “suspects,” though in general they are rarely held for more than a day.
Israeli troops block passage on roads in Syria’s Quneitra Governorate | Image from SOHR
Monday the troops were back in the same area, near Khan Arnabah, setting up a checkpoint between that village and Samdaniya al-Sharqiya. The troops remained for while, but ultimately withdrew from the area.
Troops also entered Samdaniya al-Sharqiya and set up a checkpoint in front of the local school, though they reportedly withdrew relatively quickly, and no detentions were reported. Another operation was reported near al-Maariyah is the neighboring Daraa Governorate.
While these raids and random checkpoints are a nuisance, the real damage that is being done to Quneitra’s economy is the IDF destroying economic infrastructure in several areas.
Quneitra is mostly an agriculture and logging-based economy, and a number of IDF raids involve bringing bulldozers into the area and leveling whatever they come across. That includes farmers’ fields as well as a number of forested areas adjacent to the villages, which were being harvested by the locals.
Exactly why Israel has put so much effort into uprooting trees is unclear, but the Israeli military is also denying locals access to the roads leading to these important areas, so the economic damage appears to be deliberate.
