Israeli forces have advanced into southwestern Syria’s Quneitra Governorate again Wednesday, and once again one of the operations involved a raid of the village of Saida al-Hanout.
Locals say the IDF troops tied up a pair of young men in the village, beat them for awhile before letting them go without providing a reason, and then reportedly ran over multiple of the villagers’ sheep while departing.
Reports of the IDF getting increasingly aggressive about their raids are becoming more common of late. On Monday, troops were reported to have raided the town of al-Rafid, beating up four minors in the town and confiscating their phones before withdrawing.
Israeli troops cross into Quneitra | Image from SOHR
Troops on the outskirts of al-Rafid on Tuesday were demolishing agricultural lands and installing barbed wire fences in them. Troops also reportedly set up new soil barricades in the area near the boundary that was previously the demilitarized zone.
Detentions were extremely rare early in the Israeli invasion of southwestern Syria, but have become more and more common in recent weeks. Israel has notably not offered any more statements about their operations on Syrian soil to explain their aggressive engagements with the civilian populace.
In addition to the Saida al-Hanout incident on Wednesday, IDF troops also entered Daraa and raided the area near the Um Al-Luqas farm in Quneitra, capturing a young man and taking him into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. His fate remains unknown.
