Israeli army enters Quneitra village in southern Syria amid talks in ParisSince the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel has extended its occupation of Syrian territory and staged numerous raids and bombardments.Twelve Israeli military vehicles have entered the village of Saida al-Golan in the Quneitra countryside, southern Syria, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.
The latest Israeli incursion on Tuesday, a further violation of Syrian sovereignty, comes as a Syrian delegation is holding negotiations with Israeli counterparts in the French capital, Paris, under the coordination and mediation of the United States, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.
The talks were expected to continue into a second and final day on Tuesday, even as “Israel is again violating Syrian sovereignty and undermining talks”, Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna reported from Beit Jinn outside the capital, Damascus.
There are “vast chasms” between Syria’s and Israel’s desired outcomes, Oghanna said.
Israel is seeking full demilitarisation of southern Syria, as well as maintaining military outposts in Jabal al-Sheikh, known in Israel as Mount Hermon, and … a pretext … to bombard Damascus as fighting erupted in Suwayda.
“The Syrian requests are far simpler – they simply want the Israelis to leave … and to end all strikes, incursions and hostilities into sovereign Syrian territory,” Oghanna said.
Since the fall of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, Israel has extended its occupation of Syrian territory beyond the Golan Heights and staged numerous raids and bombardments in southern Syria.
For months, Israeli forces have conducted near-daily incursions into southern Syria, particularly in the Quneitra governorate, carrying out arrests, erecting checkpoints, and bulldozing land, all of which have prompted growing public anger and unrest.
Despite a reduction in direct military threats, the Israeli army continues to carry out air raids that have caused civilian casualties and destroyed Syrian army sites and facilities.
Over the past year, Israel has launched more than 600 air, drone and artillery attacks across Syria, averaging nearly two a day, according to a tally by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
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After al-Assad’s fall, Israel declared the 1974 Disengagement Agreement – brokered after the 1973 war, in which Syria failed to regain the occupied Golan Heights – void.
The agreement had established protocols for a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone, which Israel has since violated, advancing deeper into Syrian territory.
Citing al-Assad’s flight, Israel says the accord no longer applies, while carrying out air raids, ground incursions, and reconnaissance flights; setting up checkpoints; and arresting or disappearing Syrians.
Last November, Israeli forces carried out a deadly raid on Beit Jinn, resulting in the deaths of 13 civilians, including two children.
Although some residents want the Israelis “to leave with a guarantee from the Syrian government and foreign powers to enforce it”, Oghanna said, others “haven’t even heard of the talks happening today in Paris”.
“They just want their land free of foreign intervention and foreign armies,” Oghanna added.
Syria has not responded with attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in late December that Israel was eager to ensure a peaceful border with Syria, and US President Donald Trump said he was sure Israel would get along with Syria’s current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led a lightning offensive to topple al-Assad in late 2024.
Talks have been ongoing on and off to reach a deal on a security agreement between Israel and Syria for months, without a deal or concrete progress being announced.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/6/israeli-army-vehicles-enter-quneitra-countryside-village-in-southern-syria