CAIRO: Syria said on Monday that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around Mount Hermon in an operation that violated its sovereignty and posed a further threat to regional security.
An Israeli military spokesperson said troops carried out a routine operational activity in an area of southern Syria but did not operate in Beit Jinn, an area close to the border with Lebanon and near Mount Hermon.
The incident comes as the two countries engage in U.S.-mediated talks on de-escalating their conflict in southern Syria. Damascus hopes to reach a security arrangement that could eventually pave the way for broader political talks.
Monday’s incident took place near a strategic hilltop that overlooks Beit Jinn, the Syrian ministry said. Israel also arrested six Syrians there, according to residents in the area.
The Israeli military said they made no arrests during their activity in southern Syria but they detained one person for questioning after some suspects were identified approaching the area in a manner the military deemed as a threat to the troops.
Israel bolsters border security with Syria after Druze attacks
The area is known for arms smuggling by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and by Palestinian factions. Previous Israeli incursions have mostly been in the southern Quneitra governorate.
“This dangerous escalation is considered a direct threat to regional peace and security,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israel has cited its own security concerns for its military interventions inside Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December, including what it sees as its obligation to protect members of the Druze minority in southern Syria.
On the same day, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed developments in Syria and the region with U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack in Damascus, a day after Barrack was in Israel and discussed Syria and Lebanon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hundreds of people were reported killed in clashes last month in the southern province of Sweida between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and government forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said was mass killings of Druze by the Syrian government forces.
In January, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli troops would remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely.
Israel has since then formed a de facto security zone, where it regularly patrols, sets up checkpoints, and carries out searches and raids in villages.
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