Israeli forces push into northwestern countryside of Syria's Quneitra
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Israeli forces infiltrate Syrian territory and advance into Ain al-Baidah and Ofanya near Quneitra from the occupied Golan Heights.
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A boy rides his bicycle on a road blocked by Israeli army armoured vehicles on the outskirts of the town of Quneitra, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025 (AP)
Israeli forces invaded Syrian territory on Saturday, penetrating the villages of Ain al-Baidah and Ofanya in the northwestern countryside of Quneitra, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The incursion followed a similar event on Friday, when a convoy of approximately 30 Israeli military vehicles infiltrated Syrian territory from the occupied Golan Heights and deployed in the village of al-Asha.
According to the Observatory, these actions are part of an ongoing Israeli military buildup in Syrian border areas, which flouts international agreements and UN resolutions on Syrian sovereignty.
On August 26, Israeli Security Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli military will remain deployed in areas it recently occupied in Syria, including Mount Hermon and surrounding positions in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
In a post on the X platform, Katz stated that the army would remain on Mount Hermon and in what he described as a "security zone necessary to protect the Golan Heights and the Galilee from threats coming from the Syrian side." Katz also claimed that "Israel" would continue protecting the Druze community in Syria, using this as a justification for maintaining its military presence.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli occupation forces carried out limited incursions in Syria’s southern Quneitra countryside on August 27, with infantry units advancing toward farms surrounding the village of al-Dwaya al-Saghira from the western side without armored vehicles before withdrawing after nearly an hour.
Simultaneously, another Israeli patrol accompanied by military vehicles advanced toward the village of Kodna and the Rasem Sand farms in Quneitra’s countryside, causing heightened concern among residents regarding potential escalation along the Golan front.
