Israeli forces have extended a military barrier through privately owned agricultural land in southern Syria. The construction work takes place west of al-Hanout Farm in the southern Quneitra province.
The operation involves building an earth berm across agricultural property as part of the Sufa 53 fortification project. Local residents fear the construction will affect extensive farmland situated west of the newly built berm.
Israeli forces previously bulldozed around 13 dunams of olive groves in al-Hanout, near Saida village. Soldiers also stopped farmers from reaching their remaining fields to harvest their olives.
The Sufa 53 project comprises a military road, trenches, and earth berms. Israel began construction on the initiative in mid-2022 near Hadr in northern Quneitra.
The project has since extended south through the province along the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry has called for the fortification project to stop immediately. The ministry described the construction as a breach of the disengagement agreement and international resolutions.
Israeli troops also entered northern Quneitra and set up a temporary checkpoint on the road between Jubata al-Khashab and Ain al-Bayda. The deployment involved several military vehicles.
Soldiers stopped and searched passersby at the checkpoint before withdrawing from the area. Israeli forces carried out a similar incursion near Jubata al-Khashab.
Israel has carried out repeated incursions into southern Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The military operations occurred after Israel declared the 1974 disengagement agreement void and occupied the demilitarized buffer zone.
