JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

An Israeli soldier was critically injured in southern Syria on Monday, the military said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that a reservist soldier sustained critical injuries following an explosion near a military position in southern Syria, without specifying the cause of the blast or the exact location.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities.

The explosion came a day after 15 Israeli vehicles carrying troops raided the village of Saida in Syria’s Quneitra countryside.

In recent months, the Israeli army has staged several cross-border raids into Syria’s southern provinces, including Quneitra, despite international calls for halting violations of Syria’s sovereignty.

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