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Daily Record
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
BBC crew blindfolded and held at gunpoint by Israeli forces in southern Syria
The seven member team, including British correspondent Feras Kilani were told that Israeli personnel had asked questions about their identity before the incident. A BBC Arabic news crew have claimed they were detained at gunpoint by Israeli forces while reporting in southern Syria in an incident which BBC has described as "wholly unacceptable" treatment of its journalists. The seven member team, including British correspondent Feras Kilani, two Iraqi BBC staff, and four Syrian colleagues, say they travelled from Syrian capital Damascus to the southern province of Deraa, planning to head towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, reports the BBC. The group wanted to report from Syrian territory - now under Israeli control - following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's December declaration of indefinite Israeli presence in a demilitarised buffer zone. As they filmed near a UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) post outside al-Rafeed, the crew was told by a UN official that Israeli personnel had asked about their identity and had been told they were press from the BBC. Shortly after, as they approached the buffer zone near Quneitra, the team encountered an unguarded checkpoint flanked by Israeli Merkava tanks. Israeli soldiers observed them from a nearby tower. As the journalists began filming, a white vehicle crossed from the Israeli side with four soldiers emerging, surrounding the crew and aiming rifles at their head. Despite showing press credentials and explaining they were BBC journalists, the situation quickly escalated. The soldiers seized phones and equipment, searched the team's vehicle, and transferred them into the city of Queneitra. At a checkpoint dividing Queneitra and the occupied Golan, the crew was held for several hours. Kilani recalled one soldiers who held a rifle aimed at his head from close range while others reviewed footage from their confiscated devices. He was then forced to speak to an unidentified man over the phone, who questioned their activities in broken arabic. Later, a second group of security personnel arrived carrying blindfolds and plastic zip ties. Kilana was separated from the team and took into a derelict room for a strip search and interrogation. The officer reportedly told him he would be treated differently and without restraints . However, he was still forced to strip down to his underwear. He was asked about his family and the purpose of his reporting. Meanwhile, the other members of the team experienced similar treatment. Kilani described seeing his colleagues bound and blindfolded before they were interrogated one by one. Personal photos and data was also deleted from their devices. More than seven hours later, at around 9pm, the group was released in a remote area abouy 2km outside Quneitra. Their phone were thrown to the ground before the Israeli vehicle left. The group was left disorientated and without signal, but eventually reached a nearby village where residents directed them back to the highway. In a statement, the BBC said: "On Friday 9 May whilst filming in Southern Syria, BBC News Arabic correspondent Feras Kilani, along with two other BBC staff members and four freelance colleagues, were detained for seven hours and held at gunpoint by the Isreal Defense Forces (IDF). "The team have described how they were tied up, blindfolded, strip searched, interrogated and threatened. Their electronic devices were also taken from them and material was deleted. "The BBC strongly objects to the treatment of our staff and freelancers in this way. Despite making clear to the soldiers on multiple occasions they were working for the BBC, the behaviour they were subjected to is wholly unacceptable. "We have registered a complaint with the Israeli military but are yet to receive a response."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Held at gunpoint: BBC team detained by Israeli forces in southern Syria
On the morning of 9 May, I was part of a BBC Arabic team which left the Syrian capital, Damascus, for the southern province of Deraa. From there we planned to go to the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. We wanted to get close to the Syrian territory that has been seized by the Israeli military since December, when Israel's prime minister said it was taking control indefinitely of a demilitarised buffer zone and neighbouring areas following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. We were a team of seven - myself (a British citizen), two Iraqi BBC staff, and four Syrians - three freelancers and one BBC cameraman. Israel says it struck near Syria palace over violence in Druze areas First Druze crossing in 50 years as Israel courts allies in Syria Israeli strikes in Syria a challenge to Turkey We were filming near one of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) observation posts, close to the town of al-Rafeed, when an official from the UN told us that the Israeli side had inquired about our identity and had been informed that we were a BBC crew. We next drove north towards Quneitra city, which has been located inside the buffer zone since a 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel, which captured the Golan during the 1967 Middle East war. About 200m (660ft) away from the city, an unguarded checkpoint blocked the road. To the side of the checkpoint we spotted Merkava tanks, one of which was flying an Israeli flag. From a nearby tower, two Israeli soldiers were watching us - one of them through binoculars - and my colleague held his BBC ID up for them to see. The BBC has complained to the Israeli military about what happened next to my team, but it has not yet received a response. A minute after we started filming in the area, a white car approached from the other side of the checkpoint. Four Israeli soldiers got out of the car and surrounded us. They pointed their rifles at our heads and ordered us to place the camera on the side of the road. I tried to explain that we were a BBC crew, but things escalated unexpectedly quickly. I was able to send a message to my BBC colleagues in London saying that we had been stopped by the Israeli military before our phones and all equipment were confiscated, more Israeli soldiers arrived in a Humvee military vehicle, and our car was thoroughly searched. The soldiers escorted us through a barrier into the city of Quneitra and stopped at the crossing point that separates Quneitra from the occupied Golan. There, the soldiers began reviewing the footage as we sat in our car, while one pointed his rifle at my head from metres away. After more than two hours, one of the soldiers asked me to step out of the car and speak on a mobile phone. I didn't know who the person on the line was. He spoke broken Arabic. He asked why we were filming Israeli military positions. I told him I was a British BBC journalist and explained to him the nature of our work. I returned to my car, and the rifle was again aimed at my head. After another hour of waiting, one more vehicle arrived. A group of security personnel got out of the car carrying blindfolds and plastic zip ties and asked me to step out first. The lead officer, who spoke fluent Palestinian Arabic dialect, took me by the hand towards one of the rooms at the crossing point which were previously used by the Syrian army. The floor was strewn with broken glass and rubbish. He told me that they would treat me differently - no handcuffs, nor blindfold - unlike the rest of my team. I was in shock. I asked why they were doing this when they knew we were a BBC crew. He said he wanted to help get us out quickly and that we had to comply with their instructions. Moments later, another officer entered and told me to take off all my clothes except my underwear. I initially refused, but they insisted, and threatened me, so I complied. He inspected even inside my underwear, both front and back, searched my clothes, then told me to put them back on and started interrogating me - including personal questions about my children and their ages. When they eventually let me out of the room, I witnessed the horrific scene of my team members, tied up and blindfolded. I pleaded to the officer to release them, and he promised to do so after the interrogations. They were taken one by one to the same room for strip search and questioning. They returned with their hands still bound but not blindfolded. The team's interrogation lasted more than two hours, during which all our phones and laptops were examined, and many photos - including personal ones - were deleted. The officer threatened us with worse consequences if we approached the frontier from the Syrian side again, and said that they know everything about us and would track us down if any hidden or un-deleted photo was ever published. About seven hours after our detention - it was past 21:00 - we were taken by two vehicles, one in front of our car and the other behind us, to a rural area about 2km (1.2 miles) outside Quneitra. There, the vehicles stopped and a bag containing our phones was thrown towards us before the vehicles left. Lost in the dark with no signal, no internet and no idea where we were, we kept driving until we reached a small village. A group of children pointed us to the highway, warning that a wrong turn could draw Israeli fire. Ten tense minutes later, we found the road. Forty-five minutes after that, we were in Damascus. Israel demands complete demilitarisation of southern Syria 'We just need peace': BBC speaks to Syrians watching Israel's incursion Israel seizes Golan buffer zone after Syrian troops leave positions
The National
28-05-2025
- General
- The National
Syria-Israel talks are focused on reducing military presence near the Golan, source says
Talks between Syria and Israel have focused on the sides cutting back their military presence near the Golan Heights, a Syrian political source said. The source, who does not hold a government position, told The National that 'no political issues have been discussed'. Syria is demanding that Israel withdraws its troops to a 1974 armistice line on the Golan Heights, the source said. Israel sent its forces across the line into Syrian territory after rebel forces toppled former president Bashar Al Assad in December. The Israelis want the Syrian government to commit to an expanded demilitarised zone, free from heavy weapons, that runs from the Golan Heights to the outskirts of Damascus, the source said. Security teams from the sides have been discussing the details in an area of the Golan Heights patrolled by United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, the source said, without naming the participants. Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara said this month that Syria is engaged in 'indirect talks through mediators' with Israel 'to calm down the situation so that it does not get out of control'. Quoting sources, Reuters reported on Tuesday that a Syrian team led by Ahmad Al Dalati, a colonel in the security forces, held direct talks with Israel in the region of Quneitra, the heart of the 1974 demilitarised zone. Mr Al Dalati told Syrian state television that he 'categorically denies participating in any direct talks with the Israeli side'. 'Such claims lake accuracy and credibility,' said Mr Al Dalati, who was appointed this month as governor of the mostly Druze province of Suweida in southern Syria. Syria and Israel have been technically at war since 1967. Israel seized the Golan Heights that year and annexed it in 1981. Syria launched an unsuccessful war to regain the area in 1973, leading to the creation of the UN demilitarised zone the following year. The regime of Mr Al Assad, and his father Hafez held peace talks with Israel several times without reaching an agreement. On May 14, President Donald Trump met Mr Al Shara in Riyadh after being urged to do so by Ankara and Saudi Arabia and he asked Syria to join the Abraham Accords that established diplomatic relations between Israel and a number of Arab states. Although Mr Al Shara's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham group is a former ally of Al Qaeda, many see him and his government as a bulwark against more extreme elements. Israel bombed Syria since he was named leader by fellow rebels in late January, but the raids have subsided in recent weeks.
