Israeli forces continued their nearly daily violations of Syria territory on Monday when an Israeli artillery shell landed near the village of al-Musayritiyah in the western Daraa countryside, sparking a fire in a wheat field before residents managed to extinguish it, reported Syria’s state news agency SANA. The village is located in the Yarmouk Basin area close to the border with the occupied Syrian Golan. It has witnessed repeated Israeli incursions, including home and farm searches and the detention of young men. On Sunday, four Israeli military vehicles reached the entrance of the town of Maariya in the Yarmouk Basin, while two others seized the road connecting the village of Saidah in the Golan to al-Basali in the eastern Quneitra countryside. SANA reported the Israeli forces set up two checkpoints and searched pedestrians and vehicles before withdrawing from the area. All the measures are seen as efforts to impose an unofficial buffer zone, said sources in Damascus. Israel continues to violate the 1974 Disengagement Agreement through shelling, ground incursions, attacks on civilians, raids, detentions and land leveling. Syria consistently demands the end of the Israeli occupation of its territory, stating that all Israeli measures in southern Syria are null and void under international law. Damascus also calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities, deter the Israeli practices and compel a full withdrawal from southern Syria. Since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024, Israeli forces have seized 665 kilometers of Syrian territory, set up nine military positions and continue to carry out land incursions into Syria, notably in the eastern and northern Quneitra countryside and Yarmouk Basin. Syrian and international reports said Israel has set up a security zone, similar to the “yellow line” in Gaza, to bar military activity in the area and strip the Quneitra and Daraa regions of heavy weapons. It aims to control areas leading to southern Damascus with the aim of creating “strategic depth” to protect Galilee and the Golan. Researcher at the Jusoor Center for Studies Rashid Hourani said Israel wants to create the buffer zone through razing agricultural areas in Quneitra, western Daraa countryside, and Yarmouk Basin especially. It wants to destroy infrastructure and military positions by repeatedly targeting them, thereby preventing citizens from accessing their agricultural lands, he told Asharq Al-Awsat. It also wants to impose restrictions on their movement as Israeli forces have carried out frequent interrogations of the locals and set up temporary checkpoints in the areas, he added. Israeli forces have destroyed civilian facilities and historic sites, including 15 houses in the village of al-Hamidiye. They blew up a historic mosque, a museum building, and other heritage sites. Israel has increased its incursions into Syria as it escalated its operations in Lebanon and as Lebanese and Israeli official prepare to hold a third round of negotiations in Washington to end the war. The Syrian-Israeli negotiations have meanwhile stalled after a series of intense talks last year that “have yet to reach tangible results on the ground,” said Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in previous remarks. Hourani told Asharq Al-Awsat Israel’s failure to achieve its objectives in the war on Iran has reflected in the stalling of negotiations with Syria, which he said is because of Israel’s “erratic position on how to handle the Syrian file.” He also noted the pressure it is coming under due to its involvement in Lebanon and Gaza. Observers have speculated that Israel will impose military and security measures in southern Syrian similar to the ones it has in place in Gaza and southern Lebanon where it is expanding its field control and weakening the local authorities by imposing long-term changes on the ground. At the same time, Israel is expanding its settlement projects in the Golan.
