Israeli forces push deeper into Syria as strikes with Iran enter second week

Middle East Eye

4 hours ago

Israeli forces advanced several kilometres into southern Syria this week, where they destroyed homes and razed vast acres of land, as Israel's strikes with Iran entered its second week.
Local residents told Middle East Eye that heavily armed Israeli soldiers advanced at least 1.5 km into the southern province of Quneitra on Thursday, where they destroyed at least 15 homes and vast areas of forest and agricultural land.
The residents said that Israeli soldiers launched their advance towards several towns, including al-Hamidiyah, with Israel claiming they were targeting "extremist militants" or preventing "attacks linked to Hezbollah or Iran".
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes since last Friday, 13 June, in what Israel describes as an effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Israel has failed to provide any evidence that Iran was close to developing a nuclear bomb, and the latest assessments of the international community, including from the US, have indicated that Iran had not made a decision to weaponise its nuclear programme, something it had abandoned in 2003.
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Syria's geographic location has made its skies a battleground for the tit-for-tat strikes, with the Israeli air force repeatedly violating the country's airspace.
Debris has repeatedly crashed on the ground, particularly in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Daraa, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Mohammad al-Ali, an al-Hamidiyah resident, told MEE that his community was gripped by fear after Israel's latest incursions into southern Syria.
"They (Israeli soldiers) arrived and suddenly told us we had to evacuate," he said.
"I was prepared for anything when I left under the threat of weapons with my wife and three children, but I did not expect they would demolish our home, with all its furniture and memories, in such a savage way."
'Major instability'
Mohammad al-Saeed, the director of the Media Directorate in Quneitra Province, suggested that whilst the world's and the Syrian government's attention was focused on the hostilities between Israel and Iran, Israel was exploiting the situation to seize more territory in Syria.
"These Israeli assaults create major instability, particularly with the security checkpoints that the Israeli army sets up deep inside Syrian territory," he said. "Some have reached up to 17km into Syria, including areas like Tel al-Mal."
According to multiple reports, Israeli forces have intensified efforts to grab land in a buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a 1974 ceasefire line since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in early December.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Thursday that Israeli forces, using tanks, Humvees and SUVs, had amassed near three towns in Quneitra: Mashara, Jaba and al-Samdaniya al-Gharbiya, with the aim of establishing new military checkpoints.
This came as Israeli forces began excavating forests in the Jubata al-Khashab Nature Reserve and land in adjacent areas, reportedly with the aim of establishing Israeli military bases and observation points.
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Basel Othman, a long-time resident of Salam city, formerly known as al-Baath, said that the Israeli army had "bulldozed hundreds of hectares of farmland under the pretext that it obstructs the military's visibility".
"Entire groves of trees that had stood for centuries were cut down simply because Israel suffers from paranoia of being attacked," he told MEE.
Since the fall of the Assad dynasty, the Israeli army has carried out regular air raids and ground incursions into Syria, sometimes injuring and killing residents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to double the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied Golan Heights, territory which is still recognised as part of Syria by the international community, with the exception of the United States.
Al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Thursday that in recent days, Israeli forces deliberately attacked water pipelines and critical infrastructure when they stormed al-Hamidiyah and the village of Juba in Quneitra, resulting in hundreds of homes losing access to safe drinking water.
Saeed, the director of the Media Directorate in Quneitra Province, said that the Israeli military's decision to set up random checkpoints was causing widespread alarm, with many in the area complaining about "systematic humiliation".
"They (Israeli soldiers) often deliberately humiliate people by searching their phones and photos, detaining some for hours, and then releasing them," he said.
"This is clearly aimed to instil fear and suppress morale."