Israeli forces have intensified military activity in Syria’s Quneitra countryside, carrying out shelling, incursions, and arrests in a series of moves that have heightened tension among local residents.
According to Enab Baladi, on Thursday, 14 May, areas of Quneitra in southwestern Syria witnessed a new escalation that included artillery fire, troop movements and the detention of civilians, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in the governorate. The Israeli army reportedly fired several artillery shells at the outskirts of Hamidiyah town in central Quneitra countryside, striking nearby agricultural land around al‑Hurriya, Jubata al‑Khashab and Hamidiyah without immediate reports of casualties.
In parallel with the shelling, an Israeli patrol conducted an incursion into the village of Sida Golan, where troops searched several homes and arrested one resident, local sources told Enab Baladi. A separate force entered the town of Kudna in southern Quneitra at around 2:00 a.m., searched multiple houses and detained a young man who was later released after several hours in custody, the Quneitra Media Directorate reported.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday 12 May, Israeli forces set up a temporary checkpoint on the main Ofania–Khan Arnabeh road, which also links to Jubata al‑Khashab, deploying several military vehicles and more than 30 personnel, according to Enab Baladi and Syria’s state news agency SANA. The checkpoint was accompanied by illumination flares and flights by Israeli warplanes, while sirens sounded in the occupied town of Majdal Shams over the reported presence of a drone, before the forces later withdrew without announcing arrests at the site.
Quneitra has also seen intensified Israeli movements since 11 May, including repeated patrols near Jubata al‑Khashab and Taranja, additional artillery fire near Taranja’s agricultural lands close to the barbed‑wire fence, and expanded fortification work inside the buffer zone. Enab Baladi’s correspondent said Israeli forces have extended barbed‑wire fencing in the village of Asha and continued excavation and fortification activities around Bariqa, part of what local observers describe as efforts to intimidate residents and consolidate military positions along the ceasefire line in the Golan region.