The Israel Defense Forces is increasingly concerned about growing numbers of incidents of Israeli activists who illegally cross into Syria from the Golan Heights, and who endanger their safety and that of the military.
In recent days, Israeli military observers reportedly aborted an airstrike moments before launch near Mount Hermon after realizing the suspected infiltrators were not a hostile cell but activists from the HaBashan Pioneers settlement movement.
The pace of these crossings has surged, a security source told JNS.
“In the past month, we had almost eight entries of people like this, which is a lot,” the source said, adding that beyond the eight completed crossings, additional groups have been intercepted before reaching the border.
The source described each incident as increasingly volatile. “Every time we see it escalating. meaning at first they arrive and then we find them, and then after that they arrive and there is violence and they don’t agree to evacuate, and then after that they arrive at night and stay there almost a day. It’s a very, very complex incident,” the source said.
“I’ll say that all of the IDF’s eyes are on the red side [the Syrian side of the border], not the blue [Israeli] side,” the source stated, adding that this is why the activists are difficult to stop.
“Our eyes are on the red side, we’re not supposed to even be dealing with this,” the source said. The source stressed that the activists endanger both themselves and IDF troops. “They enter enemy territory without helmets, without vests, without coordination—it’s very dangerous,” the source said, adding, “We could have thought they were terrorists or that they were an enemy and shot at them, and that could have ended very, very, dangerously.”
The source said the activists also risk encountering jihadist elements operating in southern Syria. “This is a kidnapping threat, an attack threat, many scenarios could happen with this, and it’s super dangerous.”
The source added that regardless of outcome, the incidents disrupt IDF operations across the sector. “If you look at them and our surveillance is looking at them and all of our forces are directed at them, then we can’t deal with other things,” the source said, adding that while the IDF can split its attention if another incident occurs simultaneously, “it’s not supposed to be like that, and it’s a real shame that it is.”
The IDF’s role ends once activists are apprehended. “The IDF cannot really detain or investigate civilians. They immediately gets transferred, and so anyone caught automatically moves to the Israel Police,” the source said, adding, “We, as the IDF, expect the police to enforce the law. This situation is very harmful to us.”
The source said the scale of incidents varies. “It’s not dozens of activists, it’s between five and ten each time—there was one time it was 20 guys, but they didn’t get in, we stopped them.”
The primary goal remains protecting northern communities and the Golan Heights from threatening elements in Syria, where Sunni jihadist and Iran-backed terror cells operate.
A police source told JNS that once the IDF transfers Israeli civilians into police custody, a formal criminal process begins.
“When the IDF transfer over Israeli civilians into our custody, we begin an investigation, question them, collect evidence for the investigation and transfer it over to the prosecution and the State Attorney’s Office for continued criminal proceedings,” the police source said. The source added that the decision on charges rests with prosecutors. “We build the case. The prosecutor is the one who decides if they’re going to indict or not indict.”
It remains unclear which security organization if any has been tasked with physically stopping the activists from approaching the border in the first place.
The IDF, in a statement issued on July 17, said that on July 16, several Israeli civilians arrived in the area of the Druze Golan town of Majdal Shams and crossed into Syrian territory, and that IDF troops operating at the scene searched the area and worked to return the civilians to Israeli territory.
“Recently, the IDF identified an increase in incidents of this sort. Such actions divert IDF soldiers’ attention from their ongoing operational activities and compromise security,” the statement said. “The IDF strongly condemns this incident and emphasizes that such actions constitute a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF soldiers,” the statement continued, adding, “The IDF expects law enforcement authorities to bring those involved to justice and to act decisively to prevent such incidents.”
The HaBashan Pioneers movement has staged a series of escalating incursions in recent months.
