Syriaupdated 3h ago3 min read
Israeli Forces Expand Incursion in Damascus Countryside, Kill Man Near Quneitra
Israeli forces expanded into Damascus countryside, entering Al-Asbah and surrounding areas. Killed a person described as a suspect trying to infiltrate a southern Syria military post.
13 outlets told this the same way.
Incursion and a killing
Israeli forces penetrated agricultural lands between the Bet-Gen Farm and the town of Bet Gen in the western Damascus countryside and killed a person on grounds of attempting to infiltrate a military site, according to Al-Khaleej. Israeli forces blew up an abandoned building located amid the agricultural lands known as the “vines,” between the town of Bet Gen and the Bet Gen Farm, and there was no information about people inside the building at the moment of its demolition. The Israeli army announced the death of a person who claimed he tried to infiltrate an area under its control in the security zone south of Syria, and the army framed the operations as aimed at preventing any potential threat to Israeli civilians and its personnel.
Turkey’s presidency considered Israel’s actions a violation that disregards international law and the 1974 de-escalation agreement, and it quoted Burhanuddin Duran saying resuming Israeli activities along what is called “Sufa 53” constitutes a “new violation that blatantly ignores international law and the 1974 de-escalation agreement.” Al-Khaleej added that the occupation army announced at dawn the killing of a man who claimed to have tried to infiltrate a military site inside what it calls the “security zone” that it occupies in south Syria, hours after Israeli forces penetrated the village of Al-Asbah in the Quneitra Governorate and stormed homes there.
Funeral and competing accounts
Residents of the Quneitra Governorate mourned the body of Mohammad Dbour, whom the Israeli occupation forces killed, and Al-Jazeera Net said a Syria Now correspondent documented the funeral in the village of Jba after his family received him from the Golan National Hospital in the city of Salam in Quneitra. A delegation from the Syrian Red Crescent, in coordination with UN forces monitoring the disengagement (UNDOF), received the young man's body from the Israeli occupation forces stationed in the Al-Hamidiya village. Israeli media indicated that the victim was unarmed and carried only a phone and some money, while it also stated that the funeral took place hours after a shooting incident on two people by the occupation forces in the Quneitra countryside.
An Israeli military spokesman described the killing as the result of IDF forces identifying a suspect trying to infiltrate an IDF post in the southern Syria security zone, and it quoted the spokesman saying, "After a quick identification, the forces fired at the suspect and killed him, with no casualties among our troops." Al-Jazeera Net also described Israeli escalation around Bayt Jen in the Damascus countryside, and it quoted Yosef Al-Saadia saying he was subjected to gunfire by the occupation forces while on his way to his job in livestock trade.
Sufa 53 and wider risks
Israeli forces resumed digging works along the de facto line with the occupied Golan Heights, west of the village of Al-Asha in the Quneitra countryside, and it described the move as part of what Damascus described as continuing violations in the demilitarized zone covered by the 1974 disengagement agreement. The expansion of the project led to thousands of dunams of agricultural land in the Quneitra countryside becoming unsuitable for farming and grazing, and it said it also negatively affected water flow and the natural infrastructure of the area. The occupation army resumed excavation work along the demarcation line with the occupied Golan Heights, west of the village of Al-Asha, as part of the “Sufa 53” project that Israel has been carrying out in the area since mid-2022.
Turkey “will continue to firmly defend Syria’s sovereignty, political unity, and territorial integrity,” and he urged Israel to stop its violations of Syrian territory and withdraw immediately from the occupied areas. Juridat al-Quds said Israel’s forces expanded their control beyond the traditional demarcation line in the occupied Golan Heights and reached the strategic Mount Hermon heights, and it framed the security zone as a continuous security alert imposed since the recent political changes in Damascus.