Israeli army strikes shepherd, runs over sheep in southern Syria’s countryside

The Israeli army assaulted a shepherd and ran over several of his sheep, killing them, during an incursion into the countryside of Quneitra in southern Syria on Thursday, Anadolu reports.

Syrian news agency SANA said an Israeli occupation force “assaulted a shepherd during its incursion between Al-Asha village and Al-Rafid town in the southern Quneitra countryside.”

“The force beat the shepherd and ran over several of his sheep, killing them, before withdrawing from the area,” it added.

SANA noted that Israeli occupation forces arrested a civilian Tuesday while he was herding sheep west of Al-Rafid town before releasing him the following day.

Quneitra province, which borders the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, has witnessed repeated Israeli incursions involving searches of homes and vehicles and the establishment of temporary military checkpoints.

Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967. After the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in late 2024, Israel declared the 1974 disengagement agreement collapsed and occupied the Syrian buffer zone and other sites, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh).

Israel also occupies Palestinian and Lebanese territories and refuses to withdraw from them or allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in line with relevant UN resolutions.