Israel arrests Iran-linked militants in Southern Syria

The Israeli military announced on Monday that it had arrested additional members of a group in Syria believed to be controlled by Iran.

According to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the targeted cell was linked to the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israeli forces reportedly carried out the arrests overnight in southern Syria, the IDF said. Further details about the detainees were not initially disclosed.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that two brothers were arrested during an Israeli army raid in a village in Quneitra province.

Just days earlier, Israel had announced the arrest of members of a “terror cell controlled by Iran” operating in Syria. According to the Observatory, those detainees were three individuals of Palestinian origin.

In mid-June, the Israeli military reportedly detained several members of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Syria as well.

Israel and Syria have been officially at war since 1948. However, informed Syrian sources recently claimed that the two countries have resumed direct talks on limited security arrangements and a possible withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Syria.

Since the overthrow of long-time Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in Dec. 2024, the Israeli military had significantly increased its operations on Syrian territory. It had  also deployed forces in a United Nations-controlled buffer zone between the two countries.

Israel has stated that its actions are aimed at countering Iranian arms shipments to Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.(dpa/NAN)