ISRAEL’s aggressions around the Middle East haven’t ceased with the recent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The pact, established on October 10, has eased the pressure on Palestinians in Gaza, even if Israeli strikes there continue. And in other parts of the region, Israel is still attacking on multiple fronts.
Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank have all witnessed Israeli strikes in the last week, giving credence to the idea that Israel is trying to keep its neighbours destabilised and weak.
United States officials visited Israel this week, but Tel Aviv’s biggest backer didn’t seem to indicate it was ready to hold the country accountable for its regional belligerence, focusing its attention on Gaza.
Here’s all you need to know about Israel’s latest attacks around the region.
Israel is cracking down hard on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023 in the West Bank alone and has intensified its efforts to annex the occupied territory.
For the second straight week, Israeli soldiers and settlers are harassing and arresting Palestinians trying to harvest their olives.
One of the Palestinians Israel recently detained had been released during January’s short-lived ceasefire in a prisoner exchange, then was rearrested, according to Wafa news agency.
The violence on the ground is matched by rhetoric from Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who urged his supporters to pressure US President Donald Trump to support the West Bank’s annexation.
He has also said that Israel should declare “sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank, saying this would stymie the “dangerous idea of a Palestinian state”.
The Israeli military has been especially active in Syria in recent days, with local media reporting nearly daily incursions into Syrian territory along the southern border.
Last December, as the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad fell, Israel encroached on Syria’s territory and attacked its military infrastructure around the country.
Israel has kept up its incursions, even though Syria’s new government has not reciprocated Israel’s aggressions.
The incursions include reconnaissance overflights, ground infiltration by Israeli soldiers, arrests and disappearances of Syrians, and establishing checkpoints on Syrian territory, according to Syrian media.
Israel’s latest aggression took place Sunday morning in the villages of al-Razaniyah and Sayda al-Hanout, in the countryside of Quneitra, Syrian state media outlet SANA reported.
“A unit of the Israeli forces, consisting of four military vehicles, established a checkpoint between the two villages. During the operation, the forces detained a local bread distributor who was serving the surrounding villages near Sayda, before releasing him and withdrawing from the area,” a SANA reporter said.