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Israeli forces on Friday advanced into an area west of the town of Al-Rafid in Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province, according to Syrian media.
State-run Alikhbaria television reported that Israeli forces moved into the southern Quneitra countryside without providing further details. A Syria TV correspondent in Quneitra reported that an Israeli patrol made up of three military vehicles moved from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights toward land west of Al-Rafid.
The patrol reportedly fired shots into the air to scare livestock herders and push them away from the border area before withdrawing toward the occupied Golan Heights.
The latest movement comes as Israeli forces continue land clearing and tree-cutting operations in Al-Shahar forest near the town of Jabata al-Khashab, according to Quneitra’s Media Directorate.
The directorate stated Tuesday that Israeli bulldozers were clearing areas of forest land and removing trees while developments in the area continued to be monitored.
Israeli forces also shelled the eastern Tal Ahmar and surrounding areas in southern Quneitra a day before the latest reported advance. On Wednesday, Israeli forces reportedly carried out raids elsewhere in Quneitra and detained two people, local media reported.
Israel has also expanded its military presence in southern Syria since the fall of the former Bashar al-Assad government on Dec. 8, 2024.
A report issued Monday by the Jusoor Center for Studies found that Israel had established a network of 11 military bases and positions inside and around the buffer zone.
The center warned that the expansion could reshape the security situation established under the 1974 disengagement agreement.
According to the report, Israeli military sites stretch from the summit of Mount Hermon in the north to the Yarmouk Basin in the south, with most concentrated in Quneitra province and some extending into the Damascus and Daraa countryside.
The sites include Mount Hermon, the Red Hills west of Beit Jinn, Qurs al-Nafl in Ain al-Tina village, and positions in Jabata al-Khashab, Hamidiyah and the destroyed city of Quneitra. Other locations include Al-Adnaniyah near Mantra Dam, Tal Ahmar southwest of Kodana, two positions near Majdal Shams and Al-Jazira Barracks in the Yarmouk Basin in rural Daraa.
The developments come as Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa works toward a security agreement with Israel.
Last month, al-Sharaa said Damascus was working to reach an agreement that would "pave the way for a comprehensive peace without relinquishing Syria’s right to the occupied Golan Heights."
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967.
Before Assad’s government fell in late 2024, Israel frequently carried out strikes on positions in Syria that it claimed were linked to Iranian-backed forces. Since then, Israel has greatly expanded the scope of its strikes to include weapons depots and strategic military positions across the country.
Israeli forces have also carried out repeated incursions into the Quneitra and Daraa countryside, during which they have set up temporary checkpoints, searched civilians and vehicles, raided homes, detained residents, cleared land and established military positions and surveillance cameras at several locations.
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