IDF tanks confront suspects on Syrian border

Most military operations in the area are carried out covertly and are rarely reported on.

By Aryeh Savir/TPS and World Israel News Staff

IDF forces operating to secure Israel’s northern border with Syria on Wednesday night identified and confronted several suspects in the area of Quneitra in southern Syria.

The IDF stated that during an operation in the center of the Golan Heights, IDF troops identified a number of suspects gathered in military and strategic positions.

The force launched flares and the tanks fired warning rounds, after which the suspects fled back into Syrian territory.

No casualties were reported on either side of the border.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) reported that a fire broke out in bushes in the Al-Huriyyah village near the border after Israeli tanks fired on a military post in that area. The attack coincided with flights by Israeli helicopters over the area.

IDF activity has focused on the contested area in the past few years in an attempt to prevent Hezbollah establishment and create strategic advantage points. Most military operations in the area are carried out covertly and are rarely reported on.

IDF forces have previously clashed with terrorists and have previously bombed Hezbollah and Iranian infrastructure under construction in the area.

The IDF in March 2019 announced that it had exposed a clandestine Hezbollah unit that was operating in southern Syria in the area near the border with Israel and where this latest incident occurred.

The unit’s objective is to establish another front against Israel from the Golan Heights, in addition to Hezbollah’s threat from Lebanon.

The IDF published classified information about the “Golan File,” the name for the unit which is commanded by Ali Musa Daqduq, a senior operative in the Lebanon-based terrorist organization.

The purpose of the Hezbollah infrastructure is to act against Israel at a time of deterioration. The infrastructure is at its preliminary stages and has yet to reach the level needed for operational activity and is still in the process of development and consolidation.