Israeli troops carried out a night raid Saturday in the Syrian village of Jamlah, in the Daraa Governorate. The troops arrived in six military vehicles, established a checkpoint outside the village, but also entered and raided homes from around an hour, while IDF drones flew overhead.
The troops left, ultimately, but captured three local youths in the process, and took them with them. Who exactly they were and what the pretext for the “arrest” was is as yet unknown, as the IDF has not commented on the matter at all.
Syrian state media offered a report somewhat after the fact, but only said that the three were “local residents” and that their whereabouts are still unknown. Presumably they were taken back to Israeli-occupied territory, but again without confirmation there is no way to know.
Israel has raided villages in southwestern Syria multiple times in the past week, often searching civilian homes and hassling locals. Actually capturing anyone and taking them away to locations unknown is comparatively unusual, it has happened at times, with young men generally the targets.
In last month’s raid on al-Asha, they issued a statement claiming they suspected the seven they captured were “terrorists,” though they did not provide evidence to that effect. The month prior they raided the same village and captured over 200 sheep, who were taken back to Israel but never accused of anything.
The troops constantly raiding that village are being deployed from an Israeli military base established within Syrian territory in the nearby Jubata al-Khushab forest. The military often deploys from there to set up temporary checkpoints around al-Asha as well, though there’s little evidence that the village is any sort of hotbed of activity beyond those raids.
