Israel says apprehended members of Iran-backed cell in Syria
Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.
In a statement, the military said troops 'completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria.'
The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Israel fought an unprecedented 12-day war against its arch-foe Iran last month.
'For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area,' the statement added.
There was no immediate official Syrian confirmation of the raid.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and 'carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers.'
On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed 'terrorist cell' in southern Syria and seized weapons.
Since al-Assad's fall, Israel has carried out strikes in Syria aimed at denying military assets to the Islamist-led interim administration.
It has also deployed troops across the demilitarized zone on the Syrian side of the armistice line that used to separate the opposing forces on the Golan, with Israeli troops regularly carrying out raids in southern Syria.
On June 12, Syria said the Israeli military killed one civilian and detained seven people during an overnight incursion, with the Israeli army saying it seized members of Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israel has said it is 'interested' in striking normalization agreements with Syria and neighboring Lebanon, but insisted the strategic Golan Heights -- which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations -- would 'remain part of' Israel under any peace accord.
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