A new report has documented an extensive campaign of Israeli military expansion across southern Syria, including the construction of military gates, land confiscation, raids, arrests and repeated attacks targeting residents.
According to Middle East Eye, Israeli occupation forces carried out at least 1,672 violations inside Syrian territory between August 2025 and May 2026, citing findings published by the Syrian monitoring and research organisation Sijil Centre.
The data revealed a sharp escalation in Israeli operations following the recent war involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
Massive Escalation After Regional War
March 2026 recorded the highest monthly escalation so far, with Israeli forces carrying out more than 321 military operations, including 121 air strikes and the arrest of 41 civilians.
Israeli forces crossed the 1974 ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights and advanced towards military sites inside southern Syria in what the report described as the first major Israeli ground breach since the end of the 1973 Arab Israeli war.
Israel subsequently seized control of the United Nations monitored buffer zone and occupied large sections of the demilitarised area stretching more than 75 kilometres in length.
The incursion extended into parts of the western Daraa countryside and Quneitra province.
Within the first 48 hours following the fall of the Assad government, Israel reportedly captured around 350 square kilometres of Syrian territory, stretching from Mount Hermon in the north to areas of the Yarmouk Basin in Daraa to the south.
At the same time, Israeli fighter jets launched at least 350 air strikes across multiple Syrian provinces, targeting military aircraft, air defence systems and weapons depots.
According to Hamza Ghadban, Israel has since established nine military bases inside southern Syria, with indicators pointing towards the construction of a tenth base.
“Silent Strangulation”
The report stated that the international community has largely ignored Israel’s unprecedented military expansion campaign in southern Syria following the collapse of the Syrian government.
In March and April 2025, Israeli forces carried out two major ground incursions deep into southern Syria.
The first targeted the village of Kuwayya in the Yarmouk Basin west of Daraa, while the second advanced into the town of Nawa in Daraa countryside, an area previously known as a major flashpoint during the Syrian war.
Clashes later erupted between Israeli troops and Syrian fighters during both operations, resulting in casualties.
Ghadban said Israeli military tactics gradually shifted away from large scale invasions towards what he described as a “silent strangulation” strategy involving constant raids, incursions and military checkpoints.
According to the report, Israeli operations are concentrated within a triangular zone extending approximately 15 kilometres inside Syrian territory from the 1974 ceasefire line.
“The area stretches from Mount Hermon in the north to the Yarmouk Basin in the south,” Ghadban explained, describing it as the primary operational centre for Israeli activity in Syria.
Raids, Arrests and Expanding Military Control
In February 2026, the Sijil Centre documented a noticeable increase in what it classified as “high risk operations”, including arrests, home raids and artillery shelling.
Targeted house raids intensified significantly, with residents often gathered at checkpoints and subjected to verbal abuse and, in some cases, physical violence.
Field researchers from the organisation mapped what the report described as the operational strategy behind Israeli expansion across southern Syria.
According to an internal document reviewed by Middle East Eye, more than 80 percent of documented violations were concentrated in Quneitra province, followed by Daraa and Damascus countryside.
The report stated that Israeli incursions in northern and central Quneitra were particularly intense due to population density and strategic terrain.
Military Bases and Strategic Corridors
Satellite imagery from December 2024 and November 2025 reportedly revealed a chain of fortifications and military sites stretching across Quneitra countryside.
The report highlighted the military positions of Jabata al Khashab and al Hamidiyah in the north as forming a tightly linked military cluster separated by only 2.3 kilometres, giving Israeli forces control over northern access points.
In Jabata al Khashab, Israeli forces established a military post later expanded into a fortified base after bulldozing approximately 2,500 dunams of forest and agricultural land.
In al Hamidiyah, occupation forces demolished 16 homes within just 50 days to construct another military base, displacing 12 families and transforming the area into a surveillance and command centre for western Quneitra.
The town of Adnaniyah, southwest of al Mantara Dam in central Quneitra countryside, also became a key operational hub after the construction of a new Israeli military base there.
The report identified Tel al Ahmar al Gharbi as another strategically important site overseeing Quneitra as well as western and northern Daraa countryside.
Previously used as a military site under the Assad government, Israeli forces reportedly converted it into an advanced military position equipped with heavy firepower and long range surveillance capabilities extending deep into southern Syria.
Night Raids Across the Yarmouk Basin
In the Yarmouk Basin region, residential areas in villages including Maariya, Jamla, Abidin and Kuwayya were repeatedly subjected to Israeli night raids accompanied by temporary detentions of residents.
According to the report, Israeli operations in Daraa are fewer in number but more specialised, relying primarily on selective artillery shelling and rapid night raids rather than broad military sweeps.
Ghadban said villages connecting rural regions and those located near military bases have become “hotspots” used by Israeli forces as tactical corridors for deeper incursions into Syrian territory.
In central countryside areas, villages such as Bir Ajam, Bariqa and Ruwayhina reportedly function as major transit points, while Kudna serves as the primary crossing point for southern incursions.
Security Belt and Military Gates
The Sijil Centre also documented four military “gates”, each serving a distinct operational function.
The Abu Ghizar gate reportedly connects the occupied Golan Heights with Quneitra and Daraa countryside and functions as the exclusive entry point for armoured vehicles moving towards Wadi al Ruqqad in western Daraa.
The al Asbah gate provides direct access towards al Rafid village, while the al Razzaniyah gate serves as a primary route into Sayda al Hanout area.
Meanwhile, the Majdal Shams gate was designated for heavy military convoys heading towards the Qars al Nafl base.
According to the report, Israel is systematically constructing a connected geographical security belt forming an arc extending from the north to the south of the operational zone.
The project relies heavily on occupying elevated terrain to ensure permanent surveillance and full fire control over southern Syria.
Environmental Devastation and Chemical Spraying
The report also documented systematic aerial spraying of unidentified chemical substances over farmland and grazing areas near the buffer zone.
The first incident was recorded in January, targeting villages including Kudna, al Asha and al Asbah in southern Quneitra countryside.
Witnesses reported aircraft flying continuously for nearly four hours while dispersing unidentified material.
By late January, the spraying operations expanded into the northern Quneitra countryside.
According to the report, the aerial campaign covered more than 65 kilometres along the 1974 ceasefire line and caused widespread environmental destruction within days.
Large green areas reportedly withered, while around 3,500 dunams of grazing land were damaged in southern Quneitra alone, including 1,500 dunams of forest land where Israeli forces had already cut down trees earlier in 2025.
The measures severely affected farmers and shepherds whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and livestock.
Ghadban described the practices as an attempt to “silently displace the population by destroying their livelihoods and income sources”.
The Syrian Agriculture Ministry later stated that tests carried out in Quneitra did not reveal acute toxicity levels, though authorities did not identify the substances used.
The report also noted that similar spraying operations were documented along Lebanon’s border, where the substance used was identified as glyphosate, a herbicide classified by the World Health Organisation as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
$1.7 Billion “Smart Border” Project
In early 2026, Israel announced a massive $1.7 billion project to construct a 500 kilometre wall along the Syrian and Jordanian borders.
The project, referred to as the “Eastern Border Security Barrier”, stretches from the southern occupied Golan Heights to the Samr dunes north of Eilat, forming a continuous fortified military line.
According to Sijil documentation, Israel also signed an $80 million deal with American technology company Ondas Holdings and its Israeli subsidiary ForM Defence under the pretext of landmine removal operations.
However, the organisation’s analysis concluded that the operations function as a cover for constructing AI powered “smart borders” relying on advanced sensors, Optimus drones and ground robots.
Ghadban stated that Israeli forces carried out enormous topographical changes far beyond ordinary mine-clearing operations.
“There is an entire arsenal of artificial intelligence systems and anti-drone technologies that can simply remain permanently deployed to secure the border,” he said.
He linked the barrier project to “Sofa 53”, a military road project launched in Quneitra province in mid 2022 running parallel to the ceasefire line.
Together, the projects reportedly establish a permanent fortified corridor overseen by the newly formed 96th Gilad Division tasked with securing the tri border area between Jordan, Syria and Israel.
Expanding Settlements in the Occupied Golan
According to Ghadban, the “smart border” project is also tied to Israeli plans to expand settlement activity in Katzrin, often referred to as the “capital of the Golan”.
On 17 April 2026, the Israeli government approved legislation facilitating the transfer of approximately 3,000 settler families into the occupied Golan Heights by 2030.
Katzrin currently stands as the second largest settlement bloc in the area after Majdal Shams.
Israeli officials have also become increasingly open regarding territorial ambitions inside Syria.
On 9 April, far right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that there would be a decisive political phase in Syria including “the crown of Mount Hermon and at minimum the buffer zone”.
He added that the move would expand Israel’s borders alongside similar expansion efforts in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz later reinforced the position, declaring that Israel “will not withdraw a single millimetre from Syria”.
Syrian Response Remains Limited
Historically, successive Syrian governments provided little meaningful response regarding these neglected border regions during the rule of both حافظ and Bashar al Assad.
According to Ghadban, that reality has largely continued.
“Residents complain they cannot meet officials and that there are no economic, agricultural or employment projects,” he said.
The report added that Syria’s new government has not officially communicated with affected residents or offered compensation despite reports of limited unofficial contact.
At the international level, Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, recently accused Israeli forces before the Security Council of terrorising civilians, carrying out enforced disappearances, raiding homes and continuing violations inside the separation zone.
On the ground, however, only limited signs of governmental movement have appeared.
Following the killing of a 17 year old boy in an Israeli strike on 3 April, Syrian officials visited the area and supervised repairs to roads and damaged land, a move Ghadban described as something that “never happened before”.
