Israel says captured members of 'cell activated by Iran' in Syria

The Israeli military announced Wednesday that it had captured members of a “terrorist cell activated by Iran” during a raid in southern Syria, where Syrian state television reported that three people were arrested by Israeli soldiers.

In a brief statement, the Israeli military said its forces “conducted a targeted nighttime operation and arrested several terrorists in southern Syria,” seizing “several weapons and grenades.”

According to Syrian state TV, an Israeli patrol consisting of eight vehicles and about 40 soldiers arrested three people in the village of al-Bassali in the Quneitra region, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, also reported on the raid. It said the three detainees were “citizens of Palestinian origin” and that there was “no confrontation” during the operation. The group added that the raid occurred roughly two months after the arrest and transfer to Israel of a relative of the three men.

On June 12, Syrian authorities said one civilian was killed and seven others were abducted during an Israeli military incursion in the same region. At the time, the Israeli army said it had conducted a “targeted operation” and captured several Hamas members. Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Islamist group in Gaza since October 2023.

Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December — a longtime ally of Iran — Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that they will not tolerate any “threat” to their security emanating from southern Syria.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that Israel is open to normalizing ties with Syria but emphasized that it has no intention of returning the portion of the Golan Heights it captured in 1967 and later annexed in 1981.

Israeli forces, stationed since December in the U.N.-monitored demilitarized zone on the Golan, continue to carry out regular raids across the border in southern Syria.