Israeli forces seize building in Syria's Quneitra
Israeli troops seized control of a house in Syria's southern Quneitra province on Saturday, turning it into a military outpost, local sources told Shafaq News.
The site, located along a road about 70 kilometers southwest of Damascus, was occupied following the arrival of several military vehicles and an estimated 40 soldiers.
Neither Israeli nor Syrian officials have issued public statements regarding the move, which residents described as a new escalation near the Golan frontier.
Positioned close to the disengagement line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the area is considered strategically important due to its proximity to the 1974 ceasefire zone.
Israeli expansion in southern Syria has intensified since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024. Over the past eight months, the Israeli army has established 6 to 10 planned bases across Quneitra and Daraa, according to local reports and satellite imagery reviewed by independent observers.
These bases are equipped with prefabricated infrastructure, surveillance systems, and new road networks linking them to positions inside Israeli-controlled territory.
Between June 9 and July 5, monitors documented 22 Israeli incursions into populated areas, resulting in one civilian death, 13 arrests, and widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. On June 17, Israeli forces demolished 15 homes in al-Hamidiyah, citing their location near a military installation.
Environmental degradation has also followed, particularly in early July, when bulldozers cleared over 150 dunams of farmland and forest near Jubata al-Khashab of Quneitra to expand military access routes, displacing wildlife and harming agricultural communities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the deployment, declaring Israeli troops will maintain a long-term presence south of Damascus. He has rejected the return of Syrian forces or allied groups to the area and called for full demilitarization of Syria's southern governorates.
Meanwhile, indirect negotiations have resumed, led by Syria's transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who held backchannel talks with Israeli counterparts in May and June, mediated by the United Arab Emirates. The discussions reportedly explored a phased Israeli withdrawal and possible reimplementation of the 1974 disengagement agreement.
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