Israeli army renews incursion into southern Quneitra countryside, violating Syria’s sovereignty

ISTANBUL

The Israeli army on Saturday renewed its incursion into the countryside of Quneitra in southern Syria.

An Israeli patrol made up of two Hilux vehicles and two Humvees advanced south of the village of Rwayhina and north of the western village of Zubayda in the southern Quneitra countryside, in conjunction with the deployment of two tanks on the road connecting the two villages, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA.

On Friday, at least 13 people were killed, including women and children, and 24 were wounded in Israel’s attack on Beit Jinn and the road leading to it, in rural areas around the capital Damascus, according to state media.

The Israeli army staged 49 raids in southern Syria in November, according to an Anadolu tally.

Government data shows that since December 2024, Israel has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement with Syria.