IDF Arrests Iran-Linked Cell in Southern Syria for Second Time in a Week
Israel’s military says it arrested several Iran-linked operatives in southern Syria near the Golan Heights, accusing them of working for the IRGC’s Quds Force. The raid is part of ongoing Israeli operations targeting Iran-backed cells following Assad’s ousting.
By Kamaran Aziz
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) — Israel's military said Monday it had arrested members of a suspected Iran-backed cell operating on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in southern Syria, according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as reported by the Times of Israel.
The IDF said that overnight Sunday, reservists of the Alexandroni Brigade, in coordination with field interrogators from Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, carried out an operation in the Kwdana area near the Israeli border. The military confirmed that “several members of the cell who the IDF says were operating on behalf of the IRGC were nabbed.”
“For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area,” the IDF said. A similar raid on Wednesday had resulted in the capture of IRGC-affiliated operatives, underscoring the growing frequency of Israeli cross-border operations.
The Israeli military said the cell was directly linked to Iran’s Quds Force, the external arm of the IRGC responsible for foreign operations.
There has been no official Syrian government response to the latest arrest. However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that early Monday, Israeli troops raided a village in the Quneitra countryside in southern Syria, conducted searches of several homes, and detained two brothers.
The latest operations come in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ousting in December, which has triggered a wave of Israeli airstrikes and cross-border raids aimed at targeting military assets tied to Iran and its regional proxies. Israel’s military has also increased its presence across the demilitarized zone along the Golan Heights.
On June 12, the Syrian government reported that Israeli troops killed one civilian and detained seven individuals during an incursion. The IDF said it had apprehended members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in that raid.
While Israel has expressed interest in eventual normalization agreements with Syria and Lebanon, it has maintained that the strategic Golan Heights — seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations — will remain under Israeli sovereignty in any future peace settlement.
