Dozens of Israeli settlers attempted to cross into Syrian territory on Sunday in an apparent bid to establish an illegal settlement , but were intercepted by Israeli forces before reaching the border, according to the Israeli military.
Around 70 activists from the far-right extremist Jewish group 'Pioneers of Bashan' attempted to cross into Syria through the Jabal al-Shaykh (Mount Hermon) area, Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported.
The Israeli military's 210th Division had prior intelligence about the planned incursion and prevented the activists from entering Syrian territory, Kan added.
Israeli troops detained those involved and handed them over to police for further legal proceedings, the military said in a statement, describing the attempted crossing as a serious criminal offence that endangered both soldiers and the civilians involved. Kan noted that senior military officials had "unusually criticised the Israeli police, prosecutors and courts, arguing that the lack of sufficiently deterrent punishments for similar incidents had encouraged further attempts by extremist settler groups.
The 'Pioneers of Bashan' settler group, known in Hebrew as Halutzei HaBashan, is a far-right religious-nationalist settler organisation that advocates establishing Jewish settlements in occupied Syrian territory. Israeli occupation of the territory and any possible Jewish settlements there would be illegal under international law.
The group later said on X that around 100 settlers had headed towards what it called the "old border" to establish a settlement inside Syria .
It alleged that recent developments in Syria highlighted the "need" for Jewish settlements in the area and said it had aimed to establish a settlement in "Bashan" before the end of the year.
The movement also appealed for donations to help fund its illegal settlement project.
The group uses the biblical name "Bashan" to refer to a broad area spanning the occupied Golan Heights and parts of southern Syria, including Hauran, al-Lajat and Jabal al-Arab.
It was founded in April 2025 following sweeping changes along the Syrian frontier after the fall of the Assad regime , and Israel unilaterally declared it would no longer abide by the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, and Israeli forces moved into the UN-patrolled buffer zone in December 2024. Increased Israeli attacks The attempted incursion comes amid an expansion of Israeli military operations in southern Syria , where Israeli forces have stepped up ground incursions since the fall of the Assad regime.
An Israeli force comprising three military vehicles entered the village of Sida al-Golan in the southern Quneitra countryside, Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Monday.
According to the report, Israeli troops established a temporary checkpoint at the entrance to the village before detaining two shepherds for questioning.
Last week, Syrian state media reported that Israeli artillery shelled agricultural land between the villages of Bureiqa and Kudna in Quneitra province , causing damage to farmland but no casualties.
Israeli forces have also increased incursions into southern Syrian provinces in recent weeks, with a tense standoff reported on 28 June between Syrian residents and Israeli troops in Deraa.
The developments follow remarks by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz last week, who was quoted by Israeli media as saying Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely, with no plans to withdraw from so-called "security zones".