Israeli forces have raided the town of Abdin in southwestern Syria’s Yarmouk River Basin, in Daraa Governorate. The raid saw troops advance into the al-Areadah residential neighborhood to search homes.
Reports from the town were that Israeli troops, in the course of those searches, confiscated multiple mobile phones belonging to locals. As usual, there was no official IDF statement regarding the operation nor explaining the seizures.
Israeli incursions into Syria have been a reality of life in recent months, though the rate of such operations has soared in recent weeks, with 45 distinct operations involving Israeli ground troops on Syrian soil just in the first two weeks of September.
Israeli checkpoint in western Daraa Governorate | Image from SOHR
Most of the operations involve Israeli troops, backed by military vehicles, either entering municipalities or setting up temporary checkpoints around roads in the heavily agricultural southwest of Syria, harassing and sometimes detaining civilians traveling between the towns and villages or accessing farm fields.
An unknown number of Syrian civilians are being held by Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights. On Tuesday, it was reported that Israel had released one such detainee to Quneitra Governorate after holding him for over a year. He was released without comment or explanation.
In addition to the ground raids and detentions of locals in recent week, Israel has been firing a growing number of artillery strikes against Quneitra and Rif Damasq Govenrorates. Some of these are directed at residential areas, but many are targeting farmland.
