Israel’s Silent War in Southern Syria

On the winding dirt roads between Daraa and Quneitra in southern Syria, Israeli forces patrol the area from time to time, while other units set up temporary checkpoints and carry out raids and arrests deep inside Syrian territory.

The scene has become familiar since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, marking a new phase of open Israeli presence in an area long shaped by a tangled web of influence involving Iran, Hezbollah, and local armed factions.

The Israeli army told Alhurra that these operations reflect “the vigilance of units operating along the border and the ongoing efforts to thwart infiltration and smuggling attempts in one of the region’s most complex fronts.”

While Israel justifies these operations as “defensive and preventive,” observers say what is happening is redrawing the map of influence in one of Syria’s most sensitive regions, raising questions about the future of Daraa and Quneitra and who ultimately holds sway there.

Daraa, located 108 kilometers south of Damascus, was the cradle of the Syrian revolution and the gateway to the south. It serves as a link between Damascus and the Jordanian border, making it a vital corridor for trade and movement between Syria, Jordan, and the Gulf.

Quneitra, about 67 kilometers south of Damascus, directly borders the Golan Heights and overlooks the lines of contact with Israel, giving it immense security and military importance.

The Syrian Human Rights Monitoring Organization (Etana) documented nearly 200 Israeli incursions into southern Syria since late 2024, including 130 ground operations. It said the affected area covered roughly 600 square kilometers of Syrian territory.

Among these operations was one targeting “Hamas members” last July, which resulted in several arrests, according to the Israeli army.

The arrests took place in the town of Beit Jinn, about 50 kilometers southwest of Damascus, on charges of planning “multiple terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and military forces in Syria.”

Israeli forces said they seized weapons and ammunition and transferred the detainees to Israel for further interrogation.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas. A spokesperson for Syria’s Interior Ministry said seven people were arrested in the Beit Jinn raid, denying that they were affiliated with Hamas and describing them as local civilians.

In the early months of the new Syrian administration under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Israel sent forces into southern Syria and carried out large-scale airstrikes. It later began direct talks with Syrian officials to prevent an outbreak of conflict along the border area.

Tensions flared again in early June after projectiles were fired from Syria toward Israel. Israel responded with its first strikes in about a month of calm. On June 8, it carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Beit Jinn, targeting, according to its statement, a Hamas member.

To understand the dynamics unfolding in southern Syria, one must look at the groups that operated in Daraa and Quneitra before Assad’s fall, and whether they remain active to the same extent today.

“There are Palestinians or Hamas sympathizers in the area, we can’t deny that,” Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Alhurra.
“There are also ISIS elements, and the area was previously home to Hezbollah and Iranian supporters before Assad’s regime fell. But it’s impossible to say whether these groups are still present in Daraa and Quneitra, or as active as they used to be.”

“Different factions exist, have they changed, evolved, shifted ideologically? We cannot know that right now,” Abdul Rahman added, noting that even if such groups remain, “they would not show themselves armed in public.”

According to the Observatory, October saw a spike in Israeli incursions in the region, about 18 recorded operations, almost daily, up to Oct. 14.

In contrast, the Israeli army told Alhurra that it arrested two individuals caught “trying to smuggle five pistols from the Syrian side into Israeli territory.”
It confirmed the seizure of the weapons and said the suspects were handed over to security agencies for investigation.

Local Syrian media outlets and social media pages reported the arrest of five Syrians, claiming they belonged to Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have avoided direct comment on reports from Syria about the arrest of alleged Hamas-linked individuals. They have only noted that “recent weeks have seen numerous arrests inside Syrian territory,” without specifying who carried them out or who was detained, adding further ambiguity to what is happening beyond the border, according to Alhurra’s correspondent in Tel Aviv, Yehia Kassem.

In a statement issued early last week, the Israeli army announced that its 210th Division operating in southern Syria had conducted dozens of precision operations over the past two months, targeting “terrorist infrastructure,” discovering weapons, and detaining suspects involved in hostile activities.

The statement added that Brigade 226 “continues round-the-clock defensive missions aimed at ensuring the security of Golan Heights residents and northern Israel,” describing these actions as part of efforts to prevent Iranian-backed groups from entrenching militarily near the border.

These developments reveal an expanding operational pattern Israel calls “preventive defense” or a “silent preemptive strike,” limited, precise maneuvers deep inside Syria aimed at undermining adversaries’ capabilities without sliding into open confrontation.

Although this strategy reduces the risk of direct escalation, it carries the danger of unintended clashes with local or regional actors in an area where interests and threats overlap.

All this coincides with reports that Israel and Syria’s new government, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, are close to signing a security agreement.

Following Assad’s fall, Israel declared that the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria was no longer valid. It expanded its deployment in the buffer zone, Mount Hermon, and parts of Quneitra, establishing nine new military bases and posts in southern Quneitra, including the al-Hamidiyah base.

Syria, for its part, demands a return to the Disengagement Agreement, emphasizing Israel’s full withdrawal from occupied territories after December 2024 and the preservation of its national sovereignty.

Observers conclude that through its actions in Quneitra and Daraa, Israel aims to establish a “safe zone” in southern Syria beyond the demilitarized area, rejecting a return to the arrangements that prevailed under Bashar al-Assad.