Two Israeli civilians who crossed the border into Syrian territory from the Mount Hermon area were located and returned by IDF troops on Thursday, the military said, in the latest of a series of repeated crossings by right-wing activists.
The two were detained and transferred to Israel Police for further handling.
The IDF strongly condemned the incident, describing it as “another case of serious disruption to operational activity” that endangered troops operating in the area.
“Law-enforcement authorities are required to bring those involved to justice, in order to prevent the same civilians from repeatedly engaging in this phenomenon, which constitutes a criminal offense,” the military said.
More than 150 suspects have been caught crossing the Israel-Syria border in 16 attempts by Israeli civilians over the past several months, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The right-wing Bashan Pioneers movement said Thursday’s incident marked the second evacuation within 24 hours of a site it calls “Tal Hermon,” beyond what it described as the former border with Syria.
According to the movement, activists returned to the location immediately after it was evacuated on Wednesday and were detained again on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, they, too, were arrested a short time ago,” the movement said. “The next group is already on its way.”
Bashan Pioneers advocates establishing Israeli civilian communities in southern Syria and has organized repeated attempts to cross the border and maintain a presence beyond it.
Israeli activists continue to organize groups to cross the border
An organizer involved in the campaign told the Post that more than 1,000 activists had participated in the movement’s activities, including hundreds who took part in actions carrying a risk of detention.
Five activists remained in custody as of Thursday, the organizer said. Others had been released after questioning, sometimes following several days in detention, and subjected to restrictions including house arrest and exclusion from the Golan Heights.
He alleged that police had confiscated activists’ phones and other personal property and had not returned some of the items.
The organizer accused law-enforcement authorities of discriminating against right-wing activists, comparing their treatment with that of anti-government demonstrators who blocked roads and Druze Israelis who crossed into Syria during sectarian violence last year.
The IDF has characterized the crossings as a recurring criminal phenomenon that disrupts operational activity and places soldiers at risk.
The United States carried out a broad wave of strikes against Iran overnight on Wednesday, targeting dozens of IRCG command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal defenses, surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities.
Explosions were reported in several locations across southern Iran, including Bushehr, Abu Musa, Kish Island, Ahvaz, and Qeshm Island, according to Iranian state media.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had “successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran in response to yesterday’s attempted missile attacks on US forces.”
The operation was intended to reduce threats posed by Iran and its proxies to US forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf states, CENTCOM said.
Iran said that the attacks followed missile and drone operations against US facilities in Jordan and Kuwait.
The IRGC claimed it had struck US F-35 fighter jets at Jordan’s Azraq Air Base. CENTCOM denied that any American aircraft had been damaged or destroyed.
Jordan’s armed forces said they had intercepted five Iranian missiles on Thursday. US bases in Jordan have increasingly become targets of Iranian attacks during the conflict.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency also reported that the IRGC had attacked US assets at the Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
Separately, an Iranian attack struck a building belonging to a Chinese company in northern Kuwait, killing a worker and causing extensive damage, Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would respond forcefully to Iranian attacks on American forces, while maintaining that it was still seeking an agreement to end the conflict.
The expanding fighting also reached Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, where a drone struck vessels at the port of Damietta, raising concerns that the conflict could begin threatening navigation near the Suez Canal.
Egypt’s cabinet said an initial investigation found that an unidentified drone caused a fire aboard two vessels at the port on Wednesday.
No organization had claimed responsibility as of Thursday, and Egyptian authorities said the investigation was continuing.
Trading sources familiar with the incident told Reuters that the drone initially struck the US-owned gas-storage vessel Energos Winter, with the resulting fire spreading to a second ship.
Damietta lies west of the northern entrance to the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red seas and remains a major route for international energy shipments.
The incident raised concerns that vessels using the canal could be exposed to attacks as restrictions and fighting disrupt other shipping routes in the region.
In the Gaza Strip, the IDF confirmed on Thursday that it had killed the commander of a Hamas sniper cell in an operation in the southern Strip on Monday.
Mahmoud Louh, who the military said participated in the October 7 massacre, was the final remaining sniper-cell commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion.
The IDF also killed Mahmoud Taroush, a platoon commander in Hamas’s military wing, in northern Gaza on Monday. The military said Taroush had also participated in the October 7 attacks.
The IDF and Shin Bet destroyed four Hamas weapons-storage facilities at separate locations across the Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, the military said.
Elsewhere, Israeli security forces completed a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the Beit Ummar area of the West Bank over the previous 24 hours, searching more than 170 structures, arresting several wanted suspects, and locating weapons, the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police said Thursday.
The operation focused on suspects involved in recent gunfire connected to a dispute between local families.
Security officials were concerned that weapons used in the dispute could later be directed at nearby Israeli communities.
Police arrested one suspect involved in the shooting on Wednesday as part of preparations for the broader operation.
Esther Davis and Amichai Stein contributed to this report.