Armoured units of the Golan Heights-bordering Israeli forces have pushed into Syrian territory, advancing into the southern province of Quneitra Governorate. The incursions, taking place this past weekend, mark a notable escalation in an area already fraught with tension.
According to reports from the local Syrian state agency and independent monitors, a convoy of tanks and military vehicles penetrated deep into Quneitra countryside, including movements towards the towns of al-Hamidiyah and al-Samdaniyah. In one documented operation on 25 October, two Israeli tanks reportedly advanced into al-Hamidiyah while drone and helicopter activity also increased in the area.
In a separate maneuver the next day, tanks and other ground vehicles established a temporary checkpoint on the road between the villages of Jaba and Khan Arnabah, detaining several civilians and confiscating motorcycles on the highway linking Damascus with Quneitra.
Syrian authorities described the operations as violations of sovereignty and a breach of the 1974 disengagement agreement that demarcates the buffer zone between Israeli-occupied Golan and Syrian territory.
The official Syrian news agency, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), noted the movements included three tanks and a number of armoured vehicles in the northern Quneitra countryside, combined with aerial reconnaissance inside the buffer region.
The context of these incursions is significant. Over recent months, Israeli forces have established multiple outposts inside southern Syria and regularly carried out cross-border raids, citing security concerns related to proximate hostile forces and militant activity near the Israeli frontier.
Analysts suggest the new operations reflect a broader shift by Israel from occasional strikes into more sustained ground presence and surveillance in the buffer zone.
Residents in affected villages reported encountering Israeli soldiers while agricultural lands and access roads were blocked. One local remarked that the presence of checkpoints and bulldozing of terrain was intended to “humanise” the operation, despite blocking farmers’ access to fields.
Israel has not officially commented on the specific manoeuvres this weekend. Observers caution that while the current operations have avoided heavy fighting, the expansion of ground access by Israeli armoured units raises the potential for wider confrontation with Syrian regime forces or allied militias operating in the region.
Given the region’s history of sensitive status, the purple line buffer zone remains under the oversight of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), the escalation also poses risks for the UN’s monitoring role and the region’s fragile stability. Any misstep could provoke broader regional repercussions.
As of now, it appears Israel is calibrating a more permanent posture in southern Syria rather than one-off hit-and-run raids, signalling that the frontier with Quneitra may become a flashpoint unless diplomatic restraints are re-imposed.
Sources: The New Arab, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, AntiWar
