Israel’s escalation of their military operations in southwest Syria, as reported in recent weeks, reached a new level over the past 24 hours when the IDF was reported to have carried out multiple attacks on the Daraa and Quneitra Governorate, firing artillery into the area and sending ground troops into multiple towns in the area to raid homes.
While troops have been operating in Quneitra in growing numbers in recent days, the latest raids seemed to center on Daraa, where the town of Jamla was raided, and raided and searched multiple homes in the area.
Israeli troops also raided the area of Abdin village in Daraa, with reports of locals throwing stones at the military vehicles in the area. The troops took control of the hilltop overlooking the village.
Israeli artillery fires on fields in southwest Syria | Image from SOHR
We also have the IDF reporting that they’d attacked and killed multiple “armed men” in the area of Abdin. The army suggested the two men were spotted walking in one of the areas defined by Israel as a “security zone” and they attacked and killed them.
This incident is noteworthy both because Israel killing people directly in Syria is relatively rare, and because this is the first statement the IDF has made related to their operations inside Syria in quite some time, even though ground troops enter Syrian territory almost every single day.
Regional nations were quick to condemn the attacks, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia both issuing statements condemning what happened as a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement. In practice, Israel had already violated that deal substantially in December of 2024, when they invaded and occupied the demilitarized zone established under the deal between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights.
That occupation has continued since then, with the Israelis pressing the Syria to establish an entire new demilitarized zone since the old one is occupied and has definitionally been remilitarized by the IDF.
