Israeli forces raid Syria’s Quneitra after UN visit, detain young man

Israeli forces carried out a new ground incursion into Syria's southern Quneitra countryside on Monday, and detained a young man, just days after a UN delegation visited the area to document Israeli violations, Syrian media reported.

Alikhbariyah television said an Israeli army patrol entered the village of Al-Mushayrifa and arrested a local resident before withdrawing.

The raid came two days after a United Nations delegation toured Quneitra as part of efforts to document repeated Israeli violations in the region.

On Sunday, Syria's envoy to the United Nations, Ibrahim Alabi, said the UN visit sent a "clear message that this land is Syrian," stressing that the delegation met with residents and listened to their concerns.

Alabi said residents briefed the UN officials on ongoing Israeli violations, including abductions, land bulldozing and damage to private property.

On Saturday, Alabi accompanied UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix during his visit to Quneitra.

Israeli forces have been carrying out near-daily incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in Quneitra's countryside, detaining civilians, setting up checkpoints, questioning passersby and destroying farmland.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement with Syria.