Daraa
On Friday, Israeli army forces advanced into villages in the Yarmouk Basin area in Daraa in southern Syria, according to a local source for +963.
The source reported that an Israeli military unit was stationed between the villages of Jomla and Saison in the Yarmouk basin, located in the western Daraa countryside.
Additionally, the Israeli army established a military checkpoint on the Al-Raqqad Valley junction, north of the village of Gabl in rural Daraa. The source indicated that Israeli forces entered the area via a road connecting the Golan Heights with the countryside of Quneitra and the village of Gbal.
According to the source, military vehicles advanced along previously unpatrolled routes, while reconnaissance aircraft flew over the region.
Read more: New Israeli Incursion into Southern Syria
Several areas of rural Quneitra, southern Syria, have witnessed a military escalation by the Israeli army, which began after midnight on Thursday- Friday.
A local source told +963 that after midnight on Friday, Israeli forces supported by tanks and military machinery vehicles, advanced into Tall Mashara in eastern rural Qunaeitra, where they used bulldozers to destroy military observation posts and barracks belonging to the ousted regime.
The Israeli army took control of the Al-Khawald military company in the town of Umm Batina, in rural Quneitra, and warned civilians not to leave their homes, according to the source.
Moreover, the source reported that Israeli forces detonated three military bunkers, demolished barracks in the area, and blocked the road between the towns of Mashara and Al-Sakher Spring.
Read more: Yediot Ahrnot: “Syrians and Israelis have an opportunity to improve relations”
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Isreal Katz stated that the new Syrian administration had deployed military reinforcements to southern Syria, but they had been “destroyed”.
Katz emphasized that Tall Aviv will not allow a “violation” of its decision to designate southern Syria as a demilitarized zone, nor would it tolerate any threats emerging from the border area into Israel.
Meanwhile, the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronoth reported that both Syrians and Israelis have an opportunity to improve relations and “reshape the Middle East”.
The newspaper argued that the former Syrian regime had engaged in “aggression” against Israel through Lebanon and had long served as an advanced base for Iran’s proxies in the region.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the emergence of a new chapter in Syria following the fall of the regime might also open the door to a shift in Syria’s relations with Israel as well.
