Israeli special forces carried out a cross-border raid into southern Quneitra in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday July 2), arresting three men from the same local family. While the Israeli army later claimed the operation had targeted an “Iran-deployed terror cell,” local sources identified the detainees as unarmed civilians with no militant links — further fuelling scepticism about Israel’s stated motives.

The incursion, around 2:00 a.m. at Al-Basali farm, targeted the al-Ahmad family home. According to the Shaam News Network (SNN), brothers Amer and Malek al-Ahmad were arrested at the scene. A third relative, Salem al-Ahmad, was reportedly coerced into travelling there from Nawa in Daraa after receiving threats by phone from Israeli forces that his family would be detained if he did not comply, and was abducted along with the two brothers.

Eyewitnesses reported no clashes and said the Israeli unit withdrew quietly toward the occupied Golan Heights. No weapons were seen at the scene, and local forces did not intervene, with Israel likely to use any military response as a pretext for further attacks on Syria.

The fate of the three detainees remains unknown, amid growing concern among families that they may be transferred to Israeli prisons.

Later, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the raid, describing it as a joint operation by the 474th Golan Brigade and Intelligence Unit 504, based on weeks of intelligence gathering. Citing unnamed suspects and alleged weapons — including hand grenades — the IDF framed the operation as a preventative strike against Iranian-backed threats. The Times of Israel and Al Jazeera both relayed the official statement, though neither outlet reported any independent verification.

The identities of the arrested men were not disclosed by Israeli officials, and no evidence has been provided to support claims of Iranian ties. SNN and Syrian locals strongly dispute the allegations, noting that the region has only recently emerged from more than a decade of brutal war and occupation inflicted by the former dictator Bashar al-Assad and his backers, including Iran's regime — which only ended following the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Since Assad’s fall, Israel has intensified operations in southern Syria, citing supposed threats from Iranian-backed armed groups or pledges to “protect the Druze population.” Yet repeated raids in Quneitra and Daraa have invariably targeted civilian homes, with little transparency and no follow-up on detainees’ fates, while Syrian Druze have angrily rejected Israel's attempts to exploit them.

President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s transitional government has not yet commented on this latest incident, but has previously condemned Israeli incursions as violations of Syrian sovereignty and attempts to derail postwar reconstruction. On June 8, a drone strike in Beit Jann in rural Damascus wounded three civilians in what Israel claimed was a strike on a “Hamas operative” — again without evidence.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks amid indirect talks between Israel and Syria. Tel Aviv has reportedly demanded operational freedom in the south as a condition for any agreement — a demand firmly rejected by Damascus. SNN analysts argue that Israel’s raids are aimed at preventing stability unless it can dictate the terms, echoing regional strategies that use the rhetoric of “resistance” or “security” to pursue broader geopolitical aims.

For Syrians working to rebuild after years of war and occupation,this morning's raid was yet another reminder that the path to sovereignty remains fraught — not only with local challenges, but with renewed foreign coercion.

Photo: Israeli forces in Golan at night (not showing the incident in question)