BEIRUT/DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- Israeli forces carried out demolition operations in southern Lebanon and military incursions into southern Syria on Saturday, while Syrian security authorities said they had foiled a plot to attack a police patrol near Damascus.
In the early hours of Saturday, Israeli forces conducted two-phase demolition operations on the outskirts of Ayta al-Jabal and blew up two houses in the direction of Beit Yahoun, completely destroying them, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. 
On Friday evening, Israeli forces blew up a complex containing three villas in the Jabal al-Hilal area, east of Khiam, destroying four villas and three neighboring houses, the agency said. 
L’Orient Today reported that among the demolished homes in Ayta al-Jabal was the residence of investigative journalist Radwan Mortada, who works for Al-Akhbar.
Israeli artillery also targeted the Scouts’ City in Zawtar al-Sharqieh and Haddatha, while tanks advanced toward the religious complex between Ayta al-Jabal and Beit Yahoun before shelling a house, according to the agency. 
An Israeli quadcopter drone fired two missiles at the roof of an inhabited building in Meifadoun; the first did not explode and ambulance crews evacuated residents before the second strike, with no injuries reported. 
Lebanon has repeatedly called for international pressure on Israel to halt its violations and implement the framework agreement.
In Syria, a patrol of two Israeli military vehicles entered the Wadi al-Raqad area in the western countryside of Dara’a province on Saturday, coinciding with reconnaissance aircraft flying over the region, state news agency SANA reported. 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incursion occurred simultaneously with the movement of a UNDOF convoy of about 10 vehicles along the road connecting Naf’a and Ain Dhakar.
Earlier, a six-vehicle Israeli patrol entered the village of al-Asha in southern Quneitra, set up a checkpoint to search passersby, and reconnaissance aircraft flew over the central Quneitra countryside, according to the Observatory. 
Israeli forces also erected a temporary checkpoint in the village of al-Ajraf in central Quneitra after penetrating with six military vehicles, searching passersby and checking identities, it said.
Syrian security authorities announced on Saturday that they had foiled a Daesh plot to target a police patrol in the Damascus countryside, arresting two suspects and seizing a prepared explosive device. 
Explosions heard near Dummar and Qudsaya west of Damascus on Friday were caused by military exercises, according to Syrian media, though some reports spoke of air defenses responding to hostile drones.
Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, who now leads Syria’s government, was once a deputy to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and was dispatched to establish a Daesh branch in Syria before later splitting from the group. 
His government now claims to be fighting the same Daesh remnants. UN investigators have documented that forces aligned with the interim government committed acts in March 2025 that “may amount to war crimes,” including killings, torture, abductions and inhumane treatment, Reuters has reported.