Dozens of Israeli settlers crossed into Syria before being escorted out by the military, according to a report by The Times of Israel on Wednesday.
The report said the group consisted of far-right activists advocating for the establishment of illegal settlements in the Syrian border area now under Israeli control.
They reportedly barricaded themselves inside a building on the outskirts of the Syrian town of Hadar.
The Israeli military said around 40 settlers advanced several hundred meters into Syria, before Israeli soldiers brought them back and handed them over to the police.
The military strongly condemned the incident, saying it constituted "a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF [Israel Defense Forces] troops."
Israel deployed soldiers to a U.N.-controlled buffer zone between the Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory after the fall of Syria's longtime dictator, Bashar Assad.
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has moved troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured in the 1967 war. Damascus has opposed Israel’s insistence on maintaining a demilitarized zone in southern Syria, although the issue was not addressed in the joint statement.
Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has sought to avoid direct confrontation with Israel while firmly rejecting continued Israeli military presence on Syrian soil. U.S. President Donald Trump has backed al-Sharaa’s government as part of broader efforts to stabilize Syria after more than a decade of civil war.
