Israeli Forces Block Firefighters After Setting Fires in Southwest Syria

from AntiWar

Israeli forces continue to operate in southwestern Syria, with incidents reported in Quneitra, Daraa, and Rif Damasq Governorates. While most of the cross-border incidents involve the Israeli military searching homes and establishing temporary checkpoints in Syrian territory, there are also increasingly destructive incidents to report.

Up in Rif Damasq, Israeli troops not only entered a farmhouse near Bait Jinn, but later rigged it with explosives and blew it up. The house was reportedly abandoned, and the IDF did not explain why they felt the need to enter Syria and destroy an abandoned house.

Quneitra Governorate has seen considerable damage done to rural areas, with Israeli forces damaging croplands and cutting back forests in northern Quneitra. Over the weekend, Israeli drones had reportedly been deployed to prevent local journalists from covering IDF earth-moving operations in southern Quneitra.

Monday saw the destruction in Quneitra scaling up even higher, with IDF troops causing some fires by firing flares into the area near al-Hamadiyah, and then compounding the damage by preventing firefighters and other civil defense workers from reaching the area that was on fire... 

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