Israel Threatens to Strike Hezbollah in Southern Syria

 Israeli planes dropped leaflets in areas in the governorates of Qoneitra and Daraa, in southern Syria.
Israeli planes dropped leaflets in areas in the governorates of Qoneitra and Daraa, in southern Syria.
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Israel Threatens to Strike Hezbollah in Southern Syria

 Israeli planes dropped leaflets in areas in the governorates of Qoneitra and Daraa, in southern Syria.
Israeli planes dropped leaflets in areas in the governorates of Qoneitra and Daraa, in southern Syria.

Israeli planes dropped leaflets in areas in the governorates of Qoneitra and Daraa, southern Syria, warning the Syrian army against the consequences of sheltering Hezbollah members.

The leaflets read: “We will not accept the continued presence of Hezbollah at the Tel Al-Hara military base, and the continuation of cooperation in any way… Hezbollah continues to extend its arms in the region and its presence brings disaster and destruction… You will be the first to be harmed.”

A former leader in the opposition factions in the Daraa governorate told Asharq Al-Awsat that since 2018, Tel Al-Hara has been exposed to three Israeli attacks.

The hill, which is located northwest of Daraa governorate, is considered a strategic military site, due to its location, which overlooks the occupied Golan and is only about 15 km away from the border with Israel. It also represents a link between the western countryside of Damascus and the governorates of Daraa and Quneitra.

Tel al-Hara is also a restricted military zone. Before 2018, the area was under the control of the opposition factions. The Syrian regime forces and pro-Iran militias regained control over the hill, in the wake of the settlement agreement in the southern region that was sponsored by Russia.

The former opposition leader pointed to dozens of air raids and missile targeting against military sites in southern Syria since 2018. The Israeli targeting included observation and monitoring points in Qoneitra, and radar and air defense sites in As-Sweida.

However, the main targets, which have been repeatedly bombed, are located in the vicinity of the town of Hader in the northern Qoneitra countryside, along the ceasefire line in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Several sites were targeted in As-Sweida, including the 159th Regiment, Al-Thala Military Airport, and the Al-Dour Battalion, and the radar points in Tal Al-Sahn, Tal Qina, Tal Al-Masih, and Tal Qalib, which were recently bombed on Feb. 18.

Journalist Rayan Maarouf from As-Sweida told Asharq Al-Awsat that the targeted sites in southern Syria mostly contained air defense equipment and military radars. Iran seems to be funding the reconstruction of these sites, he added.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.