Israeli troops invade south Syria after 'security agreement' with HTS

Israeli forces have carried out a ground incursion in Syria’s southwestern province of Quneitra, despite ongoing direct talks between the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime and the occupying entity on what authorities have described as “a security agreement.”

The al-Mayadeen television channel reported that Israeli military vehicles advanced into Jubata al-Khashab and Ofaniya towns, both close to the Israeli-occupied portion of the strategic Golan Heights, early on Wednesday.

Israeli troops conducted searches and deployed on some rooftops, as the regime’s drones intensively flew at low altitude overhead.

The development came only two days after the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israeli occupation forces had set up a temporary checkpoint north of the village of al-Rafid in the same Syrian province.

The Observatory noted at the time that Israeli forces searched passersby and arrested a young man, before withdrawing to the Tal Ahmar Gharbi base from which they had launched their offensive.

An Israeli army convoy, consisting of 10 military vehicles, also advanced into the outskirts of the village of Ain Ziwan, while reconnaissance aircraft flew over the area.

The latest incursions come as Israel persists in conducting airstrikes across multiple sites in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

On September 13, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the self-proclaimed president of Syria, announced the beginning of negotiations with Israel to restore the 1974 agreement that was established after the 1973 war between the Arab country and the Tel Aviv regime.

Israeli warplanes strike multiple military installations across Syria

Israeli warplanes have carried out a series of airstrikes against several installations once belonging to the ousted Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad’s army.

In recent months, the Israeli and HTS regimes have engaged in direct discussions focused on stopping Tel Aviv’s aggressive maneuvers against the Arab nation and achieving a “security agreement.”

Israel has conducted repeated acts of aggression across the Syrian territory following the collapse of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government late last year.

Rights group: Israeli actions in south Syria 'war crimes\

Meanwhile, a new report from an international watchdog group denounced Israel over forcibly displacing Syrians, demolishing homes and blocking people from accessing agricultural lands in southern Syria. 

The Human Rights Watch findings focus on the border village of al-Hamadiyah, where Israeli military installations are being built.

The report highlighted that these actions amount to war crimes, stating, “Rather than responding to an immediate threat, Israeli forces appear to have cleared and destroyed homes as part of a broader strategy to entrench their military presence.” 

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his forces to advance further into Syrian territory and capture multiple strategic sites within the country.

Israel has further extended its occupation of Syria by taking control of the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the remainder of the Arab nation, thereby violating a disengagement agreement established in 1974.

Experts believe that the inaction of the HTS regime, along with its gestures towards normalization with Tel Aviv, has encouraged Israel to broaden its occupation of Syrian land and intensify its airstrikes on the country.

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