Eurasia Press & News
An Israeli army unit advanced into the village of Kudna in the southern countryside of Quneitra province (southwestern Syria) and arrested five young men while they were searching for wild mushrooms.
The local Facebook page “Quneitra Now”, which operates in the province, reported that the Israeli army smashed a motorcycle the young men were riding before taking them to the Tal al-Ahmar west base adjacent to Kudna.
Media activist in Quneitra province, Nour Golan, told Enab Baladi that four of the five detainees have been identified, while the fifth remains unknown so far.
He pointed out that the identified detainees are Dawoud Suleiman al-Salkhadi, Abdulbaset Suleiman al-Salkhadi, Mahmoud Ahmed al-Salkhadi, and Mohammad Ahmed al-Salkhadi.
He noted that all of them are originally from the Jasim area in the western countryside of Daraa province (southern Syria) and had gone to the Quneitra countryside to look for mushrooms.
Nour Golan confirmed to Enab Baladi that residents in the area go out daily to search for mushrooms, and that the Israeli army intimidates them by opening fire in their direction, in addition to carrying out arrests.
In a separate incident, the Israeli army arrested a shepherd, Ibrahim Ghazi al-Shannur, from the village of Sida al-Hanout in the Quneitra countryside, according to the southern Syria news page “Daraa 24”.
Previous arrest operation
Israeli army forces advanced on 24 December into the village of Jamlah in the Yarmouk Basin area in the western countryside of Daraa province (southern Syria) and arrested two young men from the village, Enab Baladi’s correspondent reported at the time.
The correspondent said that an Israeli army patrol entered the village in the early hours of dawn and carried out an arrest operation targeting the two young men, Bilal Khaled al-Breidi and Mohammad Ahmad Mohammad, before withdrawing from the area.
On 23 December, the Israeli army also arrested two young men in the “al-shabab housing” area located between the towns of Kudna and Bariqa in the Quneitra countryside, namely Taha al-Lakoud from the city of al-Hara in the Daraa countryside, and Mahmoud Dakrout. They were later released after several hours of detention.
Israeli forces carried out multiple incursions into several areas in the countryside of Quneitra, from more than one axis, in parallel with intensive military movements in the northern sector of the province, according to local sources who spoke to Enab Baladi.
The Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported that an Israeli force made up of seven military vehicles advanced into the village of Sida al-Hanout (in Quneitra province, southwestern Syria) this morning, moving along the road of the village of al Maqraz until it reached al Maqraz Dam, before withdrawing along the same route toward Tal Abu Ghaythar.
The agency also reported that another force, consisting of three Humvee military vehicles and a civilian car, set out from Tal al-Ahmar toward the village of Kudna, reaching the youth housing area, a cluster of abandoned residential buildings located to the southeast of Bariqa.
The force searched the buildings before continuing its movement east toward Rasem Sand, then to Tel Abu Qubais, which borders the village of Ein Zuwan.
According to local sources who spoke to Enab Baladi, an Israeli patrol made up of six military vehicles headed this evening toward the Taranja area (in Quneitra countryside, southwestern Syria). At the same time, Israeli army forces were firing flares over the villages of Jubata al-Khashab and Taranja in the Quneitra countryside.
