Multiple new Israeli raids were reported over the weekend, including raids on villages in Quneitra and another incident on Friday in which Israeli forces opened fire on the western Daraa village of Maariyah.
In Quneitra Governorate, troops raided Jbata al-Khashab, backed by six military vehicles, searching a home before withdrawing. Later Saturday, troops raided al-Rafid, searching several more homes there. No arrests were reported.
Sunday, Israeli forces entered Quneitra near the village of Saida al-Golan, establishing a military checkpoint to inspect people passing by. Locals were searched, but here again no detentions were reported.
Israeli military vehicles along the frontier with Syria | Image from SOHR
The frequency of such cross-border operations has been escalating for awhile, but has reached an almost fevered pace in August. In the past two weeks, 43 distinct ground incursions were reported by the Israeli forces into Quneitra and Daraa Governorates. Mostly, this was centered on the Yarmouk River Basin.
The growing concern in this region, whose economy is heavily agriculture-based, is not just the raids and harassment, but the chemical herbicides sprayed by Israeli forces on Syrian land have done substantial damage to orchards, grazing lands and farmland.
The herbicide spraying in occupied Lebanon and southwest Syria has been an ongoing concern all year. Earlier this summer, Lebanon informed the UN that Israel was using herbicides as a weapon of war in violation of international law. The amount of such chemicals used greatly exceeded the amount that be detected after farmers used them on the same land for ordinary weed control.
