DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- Israeli forces staged a fresh incursion into southern Syria on Monday, entering the town of Kodana in the Quneitra countryside with more than 15 military vehicles, raiding civilian homes and searching them, Syrian television reported, as residents in the region continued to face what rights groups describe as a pattern of abuses by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces loyal to Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.
The Israeli incursion, which began Sunday evening, saw forces deploy throughout the town’s neighborhoods and conduct house-to-house searches, according to the Syrian television report. 
Artillery shelling struck agricultural land between Kodana and Bariqa the following day, with four projectiles hitting the area, state media Al-Ikhbariya reported. No immediate casualties were confirmed.
Israeli forces also conducted simultaneous operations in other areas of the Quneitra and Dara’a countryside. Reports indicated Israeli movements near the western side of Al-Rafid and the outskirts of Jbata al-Khashab, with searches of passersby in the village of Umm Batna. 
An Israeli warplane overflew Dara’a province while a force of two military vehicles advanced from the Abu al-Ghaithar gate toward Wadi al-Raqad in western Dara’a, opening fire on agricultural land before withdrawing.
The incursion came days after Jolani told the UN General Assembly that Israel had carried out approximately 500 airstrikes and artillery attacks, more than 1,200 incursions, and some 300 arrest operations since December 2024, when Israel seized the buffer zone following the collapse of the Assad government. 
Despite Jolani’s public condemnations, critics note his takfiri regime’s inaction in the face of the Israeli invasion. Analysts have pointed out that Jolani—who forged close ties with the West —has consistently refrained from any military response to Israeli incursions. 
A 2026 report in Al-Akhbar described a “Paris understanding” between Jolani’s authority and Israel as amounting to a “statement of concession and cooperation,” under which Damascus withdrew heavy weapons from southern provinces while Israel continued to seize land in Quneitra, Dara’a, and rural Damascus. 
Meanwhile, in Idlib, HTS forces have raided homes, arrested and tortured people for criticizing the group’s leadership, with hundreds kidnapped and held in unofficial prisons, according to testimony gathered by human rights monitors. 
Women and children in displacement camps have been particularly affected, with psychologists documenting post-traumatic stress disorder among children under six.
In Sweida province, a video surfaced over the weekend showing child sexual exploitation at an abandoned location, prompting the Internal Security Command to announce the arrest of several suspects. 
The footage caused widespread anger across Syria, with reports indicating the exploited boys were mostly orphans.