Syria29 June, 20263 min read
Israeli Troops Clash With Daraa Residents After Shots Hit IDF Post on Tel Qudna
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Israeli forces conducted a brief incursion into western Daraa, including al-Raqad valley. Classified IDF cellphone lost during clashes resurfaced in a Syrian village.
Phone Lost in Abdin Clash
A confrontation between Israeli troops and residents in southern Syria’s Daraa area escalated after shots were fired at an IDF post on Tel Qudna, prompting the IDF to respond with artillery and mortar fire and later an attack helicopter strike. World Israel News said an Israeli reservist lost a classified Israeli military cellphone during the clash and that the device was later picked up by a Syrian resident, turning the incident into “a new security embarrassment for the Israel Defense Forces.” Syrian reports said Israeli fire hit the village of Abdin in western Daraa province, sending residents fleeing to nearby communities, while the IDF said no Israeli soldiers were hurt.
The IDF told Ynet that “the incident is known and being investigated, and is being handled through the relevant channels,” without detailing what steps were taken to prevent information from leaking from the phone. In the same episode, residents blocked roads with rocks and some young men and boys threw stones at the Israeli patrol, according to AP as cited by World Israel News.
Competing Accounts and Condemnations
Ynet quoted one Israeli reservist saying the incident began with fire directed at Israeli forces at the Tel Qudna post, and that “in the chaos and confusion, one of the soldiers lost the device, which contains secured information.” The Ynet account also described footage published in Syria showing residents throwing stones at IDF troops, and it said a Syrian reporter claimed IDF troops attacked a crew from the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya channel and several other journalists while covering what he described as the forces’ “invasion” of the village. Newsday reported that residents of Abdin blocked roads with rocks and threw stones as Israeli troops and vehicles entered the town, and it said Israeli troops fired warning shots before firing artillery rounds at the village.
Newsday also quoted resident Mohammad al-Hassan describing repeated incursions in armored 4x4 vehicles that “roam around the village and search some houses, they knock on doors and if people don’t answer the door they break it down and enter the houses.” Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli actions, with Ynet quoting it saying: “We condemn the Israeli attacks and incursions into Syrian territory in the Quneitra and Daraa provinces.”
Displacement, Buffer Zone, and Fallout
Saba reported that families from the village of Abdeen in the Yarmouk Basin area of western Daraa countryside fled to safer areas after the village was shelled by Israeli forces with heavy weapons and machine guns, causing “widespread fear and panic among civilians.” Saba said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israeli forces shelled the village with artillery, coinciding with intensive helicopter activity and machine gun fire, and that the escalation came hours after residents blocked the road to Israeli patrols before Israeli forces fired into the air and withdrew. Yeni Safak English said Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Quneitra and Daraa,” calling them a violation of Syria’s territorial integrity and a breach of international law and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
The Syrian Observer’s account described the Abdeen assault as part of an Israeli operation inside Syrian territory, and it said a military source claimed Israeli forces struck an armed cell that was allegedly preparing to infiltrate areas under Israeli control. SANA said an Israeli unit composed of three military vehicles and infantry elements penetrated into the surroundings of the al-Raqad valley in the western suburbs of Daraa for more than half an hour, while it also said Israel continues its aggression and its violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement.