Israeli Troops Storm School, Raid Homes in Southern Syria

Damascus, MINA – Israeli occupation troops stormed a school on Saturday and raided several homes in southern Syria, state media reported, according to Anadolu Agency.

Al-Ikhbariya TV said a patrol of 14 military vehicles entered the village of Al-Samadaniyah al-Gharbiyah in Quneitra province. Soldiers forced open the school’s gate and entered the grounds. The report provided no details on casualties or arrests.

Israeli troops set up a temporary checkpoint earlier Saturday in northern Quneitra. Another unit advanced toward Wadi al-Raqad in western Daraa. Israeli engineering units also continued building fortifications near Saida al-Hanout in southern Quneitra.

Israeli forces have repeatedly carried out incursions in the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra and Daraa, including setting up military checkpoints, searching homes, detaining civilians, and bulldozing agricultural land.

Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, Israel has expanded its military presence in the buffer zone between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights and advanced into areas of southern Syria despite the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement. The agreement, brokered by the US after the October 1973 war, established a demilitarized buffer zone on the Golan Heights monitored by UN peacekeepers, and Israel’s seizure of the zone following Assad’s fall upended that arrangement.

Damascus has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory, saying the incursions violate the country’s sovereignty and the disengagement agreement. On Saturday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at the Manama Dialogue 2026 that Israel had carried out more than 1,000 attacks on his country in less than two years, killing dozens of people, and called for a return to the lines in place before December 8, 2024. He stressed that the Golan Heights is Syrian territory and that UN Security Council Resolution 497 serves as the reference on this matter.

The storming of a school is particularly significant because educational facilities are protected under international humanitarian law, and the entry of 14 military vehicles into a village to force open a school’s gate indicates a level of military activity that extends beyond checkpoint operations. The construction of fortifications near Saida al-Hanout suggests that Israel is consolidating a longer-term presence rather than conducting temporary raids.

Saturday’s incursions come as Israeli military operations continue across multiple fronts. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot a Palestinian child in the foot in Qalqilya and detained two men in Hebron and Taybeh, while settlers entered Hebron’s Old City, forced shops to close, and attacked a home on Al-Shuhada Street. In Gaza, heavy rains flooded thousands of displacement tents, two people were injured in a building collapse, and four Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday.

The Syrian file also intersects with broader regional developments. Shaibani said discussions are underway to evaluate Syria’s entry into the Mecca alliance, a defense pact bringing together Turkiye, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, and stressed that the region is in greater need than ever of joint deterrence and defense systems. His remarks suggest that Damascus views regional alignment as leverage in its effort to assert sovereignty over its territory, even as Israeli operations continue.[]

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)