The Israeli army announces the prevention of the attempt of settlers to cross into Syria
The Israeli occupation army claimed that it detained a group of settlers after they tried to cross into Syrian territory in what it described as a "serious violation of military regulations in a highly sensitive border area."
This incident is the second in one week, and reflects a remarkable escalation in the activity of extremist settler groups seeking to impose a civilian presence inside southern Syria, based on the violations and incursions carried out by the occupation army in southern Syria since December 2024.
According to field reports, a group of settlers moved at dawn towards several points near Jabal al-Sheikh and Quneitra governorate, in an attempt to cut the security fence and cross the border.
The reports added that Israeli reconnaissance units and radars monitored the movement immediately after it occurred, so that army patrols intervened quickly and arrested the infiltrators before taking them to the police and ISA interrogation centers, unlike last week's incident during which infiltrators were able to stay inside Syria for a whole day.
Infiltrators from the "Pioneers of Bashan Movement"
Initial investigations revealed that the group belongs to the Rawad al-Bashan movement, an extreme right-wing movement that has been working for years to try to establish outposts and tents inside the villages of southern Syria, with the aim of imposing an illegal civilian settlement reality, taking advantage of the security vacuum after Israel announced the collapse of the disengagement agreement signed with Syria since 1974.
Israeli media reported on the issuance of a strongly worded statement by the army that "condemned the incident and considered it a serious criminal and military violation that violates the strict orders of the closed border area."
The statement added that the army leadership "expressed its anger at the recurrence of these movements," stressing that the pursuit of settlers and "the distraction of the forces from their basic operational tasks puts the border in real danger in light of regional tensions and raging wars."
The statement warned that the entry of what it described as "civilians" into Syrian territory exposes them to "the risk of being killed or captured by the people and tribes in southern Syria", who have faced previous incursion attempts with ferocity and categorical rejection of any settlement presence.
He called on law enforcement agencies to deal with the utmost "deterrence with the movement's elements to prevent these attempts from becoming a daily phenomenon beyond military control".
Previous infiltration attempts
On the evening of Friday, July 17, the Israeli occupation army announced that it had arrested a number of settlers after they crossed the border into Syrian territory from the Majdal Shams area in the occupied Golan, before returning them to Israel and handing them over to the police, according to its claim.
The Israeli army confirmed that it detained the settlers and later returned them to Israel after they spent a whole day inside Syrian territory without being monitored by surveillance systems.
According to the circulating data, the infiltration began on the evening of Thursday, July 16, 2026, when the settlers were able to cross the separation fence in the Majdal Shams area and enter Syrian territory.
Israeli reports indicated that radars and fortifications did not spot them immediately, which allowed them to roam inside Syria for about 24 hours, explaining that as the circle of suspicion expanded, the army launched a wide combing operation that ended on Friday evening with them being found near the border, to be detained and transferred to the police to complete the investigations.
Settlers infiltrate with indirect support from the occupation army
These developments come at a time when the Israeli occupation army continues its violations in southern Syria , where it is establishing an integrated expansion project that includes the bulldozing of thousands of dunams, the construction of crossing gates and the installation of permanent military infrastructure deep inside Syria.
The project includes the construction of gates and concrete barriers, most notably the Tal Abu al-Ghithar gate, which has become a daily starting point for military convoys and tanks infiltrating towards the villages of the southern countryside of Quneitra, such as Saida al-Hanut and Al-Ma'alqa.
These moves are part of the "Suva 53" project that Israel is working to expand inside Syrian territory, and the project includes the construction of a deep military road, the digging of trenches, the construction of earthen berms, and the installation of a new barbed wire east of the old line of contact, which effectively leads to the annexation of the shoveled lands and their transformation into closed military zones under Israeli control, under the pretext of preventing rocket attacks and combating infiltration.