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Settler vows permanent presence
An Israeli settler acknowledged that he and others are present in an area of southern Syria “day and night,” claiming it “belongs to the people of Israel according to the Holy Torah,” with the remarks carried by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation on Monday evening.
The settler spoke from inside Syrian territory and urged the Israeli military to remain in the area, saying: “There are military bases here and there, and we are here on the ground day and night.”
The same accounts tie the episode to the Bashan region, described as the Hebrew name for southern Syria, and note that Damascus had not issued an official response as of 20:00 GMT.
In the background of the remarks, Syria Direct describes Quneitra and western Daraa near the disengagement line as a daily pressure zone since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, with incursions, raids, arrests, clearance of farmland, and checkpoints preventing farmers and herders from reaching fields and pastures.
Incursions and detained Israelis
On Tuesday, the Israeli army prevented a number of settlers from crossing into Syrian territory at the outskirts of Mount Hermon and carried out two ground incursions, in the village of Maʿriya in the western countryside of Daraa and in the al-Basali village south of Quneitra.
In a statement published on X, the Israeli army said an Israeli force in the area detained a group of Israelis who attempted to cross south of Mount Hermon and transferred them to the police for the necessary action.
The same reporting contrasts the army’s stance with a settler admission carried by Kan, where an unnamed settler from the Roʿad Bashan movement said the movement was present “day and night” and called for the Israeli army to remain in the area.
Syria Now, as cited in the reporting, said local sources in Daraa described two Israeli military vehicles and a Terex engineering vehicle infiltrating from the Jazirah camp in Maʿriya and opening a road residents had closed about two weeks prior.
Hostile environment and violations
Syria Direct frames the situation near the disengagement line as a “hostile environment” that residents say is pushing them to curb movement, freeze rebuilding and investment, or consider leaving if they have alternatives.
“The Israeli occupation army announced that a number of settlers were prevented from crossing into Syrian territory at the outskirts of جبل الشيخ, while its forces today, Tuesday, carried out two incursions into the village of معرية in the western countryside of درعا and البصالي south of القنيطرة”
The story of Abu Saddam in Jabatha al-Khashab describes Israeli forces clearing his land after he watched it from afar from a friend’s house roof, and it says Israeli agricultural pesticides sprayed by Israeli aircraft at the start of the year damaged the cultivated area.
Syria Direct also cites the Sijal Center’s documentation of violations, saying March 2024 saw the highest number of violations since the start of the year with 321 violations, followed by April with 254, and it adds that ground incursions rose from 56 to 76 operations in the provinces of Daraa, Quneitra, and western Rif Damascus.
Meanwhile, the Middle East Monitor account says Damascus has repeatedly called on Israel to end what it describes as violations of its sovereignty, and it notes that Israel has carried out near-daily incursions into parts of southern Syria, detaining Syrians, destroying farmland and setting up checkpoints to stop and question civilians.
