Israel extends military barrier through farmland in southern Syria

Israeli forces continued bulldozing farmland in southern Syria on Sunday to extend a military barrier that Damascus has condemned as a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement, the official SANA news agency reported.

The work west of al-Hanout Farm in southern Quneitra province involves building an earth berm across privately owned agricultural land as part of the “Sufa 53” fortification project, according to the agency.

Residents fear the work will affect extensive farmland west of the berm, SANA said.

On Oct. 18, Israeli forces bulldozed around 13 dunams (1.3 hectares) of olive groves in al-Hanout, near Saida village, and prevented farmers from reaching their remaining fields to harvest olives, the agency reported.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry has called for the project to stop, describing it as a breach of the disengagement agreement and international resolutions.

Sufa 53 comprises a military road, trenches and earth berms. Israel began construction in mid-2022 near Hadr in northern Quneitra before extending the project south through the province along the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Separately, Israeli troops entered northern Quneitra on Sunday and set up a temporary checkpoint on the road between Jubata al-Khashab and Ain al-Bayda, SANA said.

The force, comprising several military vehicles, stopped and searched passersby before withdrawing. Israeli forces carried out a similar incursion near Jubata al-Khashab on Saturday, according to the agency.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israel has carried out repeated incursions into southern Syria after declaring the 1974 disengagement agreement void and occupying the demilitarized buffer zone.