The testimony of a Syrian survivor of the Israeli occupation detention centers revealed the presence of about 50 Syrian detainees in a detention center called "Sde Timan", known as "Guantánamo Israel", located 30 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, and includes Syrians, most of whom were kidnapped during operations and ground incursions in Quneitra governorate, in addition to Palestinian detainees and others of other Arab nationalities.
Abu Kinan al-Sayed, 40, recently released, revealed to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that the Israeli occupation is arresting more than 50 Syrian citizens, about 25 of whom were transferred to Ofer Military Prison, which is about 250 kilometers away from Sde Timan prison, after they were sentenced by Israeli courts.
Abu Kinan al-Sayed recounts the details of his abduction with his family members from their farm west of the town of Khan Arnabeh, pointing out that the Israeli patrol that invaded Syrian territory, which included about 30 heavily armed soldiers, initially took them to an occupation base inside Syrian territory in Quneitra called "Al-Hamidiya".
According to al-Sayed's testimony: "The day after his arrest, they released his son from al-Hamidiya, while my 38-year-old brother and my 20-year-old nephew and I remained in the detention center, and then an Israeli patrol transferred us into the occupied Palestinian territories, specifically the Sde Timan prison, located inside a military base in the Negev desert, about 30 kilometers from the Gaza Strip towards the city of Beersheba."
"We were arrested based on malicious reports by collaborators inside the area, who accused us of dealing with Hezbollah and possessing a weapon belonging to it, and when I arrived in prison, they put me in solitary confinement for seven days without being interrogated during that period, and on the eighth day, I underwent the first interrogation session with an Israeli interrogator who speaks Arabic, and he asked me questions related to dealing with the Lebanese Hezbollah and the possession of weapons associated with it inside the territories Syrian."
Al-Sayed continued: "During the period of my detention, which exceeded 65 days, the same interrogator punished me, and I asked him why I was arrested, and he told me that there was information received against me through spies in the area who work for the Israeli intelligence services, and they send reports."
The released detainee pointed out that he was held in a dormitory designated for Syrian detainees with a capacity of between 10 and 16 people, divided into sections for detention and detention of prisoners, where dormitories were allocated for Syrians and others for Palestinians, in addition to dormitories dedicated to Lebanese detainees.
Al-Sayed revealed the presence of a Kuwaiti detainee who was arrested from the village of Al-Hamidiyah in the countryside of Quneitra, during a tourist tour of him, and said: "They used to put any detainee from the first day in solitary confinement until the date of the investigation, and then transfer him to the dormitory of his nationality."
Al-Sayed added: "I remained detained for more than two months despite the fact that no charge was proven against me, and during this period I met with other Syrian detainees who were arrested during almost daily Israeli incursions into Quneitra, whether from their homes or while they were on the move, and they were accused of belonging to ISIS cells, Hezbollah or other armed groups."
At the end of his testimony, the released Abu Kinan al-Sayed said: "On the day of our release, we were transferred to the Quneitra crossing after prior coordination between the United Nations and the Syrian authorities, where an Israeli patrol handed us over to the United Nations, and then we were handed over to the Syrian side."
9 Israeli occupation sites
Security sources in the area reveal the deployment of 9 reinforced Israeli occupation sites inside Syrian territory, where the "Hamidiya" base in Quneitra is the largest center of expansion, as it extends over an area of 1 km² and imposes strict control over the movement of the population.
According to the sources, the occupation bases are spread in strategic points from Jabal al-Sheikh in the north to the village of Al-Maariyya in the south, and include vital hills such as Tal Ahmar al-Kabir and al-Muntari, which turned the area into a closed military zone that farmers are prevented from entering.
Protest to demand the release of detainees
On the 26th of this month, Damascus witnessed a protest organized by the people of Quneitra province in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates building to demand the release of the Syrian abductees in Israel.
The participants raised banners condemning the abductions carried out by the Israeli occupation forces near the border strip, calling on the Syrian government and international organizations to take urgent action to reveal the fate of their children and release them immediately, in light of the complete interruption of information about their health conditions.
The residents confirmed in their statements that the number of abductees from the area who are in the occupation prisons reached 46 people.
In a moving testimony, "Um Marwan", the mother of one of the detainees during the protest, explained that her son was kidnapped five months ago while grazing livestock, stressing that he is a civilian who does not belong to any military party.
Um Marwan made a direct appeal to President Ahmed al-Shara, asking him to give this file the same importance as the files of Syrian detainees in Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and the United Arab Emirates.
The protesters stressed the need for the release of the Syrian abductees to be a "prerequisite" in any future negotiations or understandings, calling for intensified coordination with international human rights bodies to put pressure on the occupation authorities, warning of the continuation of the policy of silence towards the systematic kidnappings that affect farmers and herders in border villages.
Residents reported that based on the testimonies of those who were previously released, the abductees are often transferred from the initial interrogation centers to Ofer Military Prison, located west of the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where this information raises double concern among the families, given the remoteness of the prison and the difficulty of communicating or hiring lawyers to defend the abductees who are deprived of the most basic human rights.
In this context, legal sources confirmed that the stage requires intensive legal and diplomatic action regarding Syrian detainees in Israeli prisons, including the formation of a "special working cell" within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up on the file and raise it in international forums, stressing the need to adopt the issue in the media to keep it present on the agenda of international public opinion and to pressure the occupation to reveal the places of detention.
Near-daily incursions into Quneitra
The areas of the Quneitra countryside are living in a state of continuous tension in light of the escalation of almost daily Israeli incursions into agricultural and residential lands, and the accompanying military measures that increase the suffering of the local population and deepen their fears for their present and future.
In villages near the separation line, residents complain of gradual land grabbing, as farmers are denied access to large areas of their land, especially those adjacent to the border fence.
According to some residents of Quneitra, Israeli shooting has become frequent, especially towards sheep herders in an attempt to prevent them from approaching those areas, which led to large material losses and a significant decline in agricultural activity, as the occupation army's incursions were directly reflected on the movement of buying and selling, and investments in land have clearly declined, with many reluctant to buy for fear of losing their property or exposing them to security risks.