The Deputy Chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria (a division of the Russian Ministry of Defense), Major General Yury Popov, stated that the Military Police has set up an additional post near the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

According to what was relayed by the Russian news agency TASS on Monday, April 1st, the additional Russian Military Police post is part of the efforts to monitor the situation along the Bravo Line in the buffer zone.

Popov mentioned that work is ongoing to monitor “the adherence to the ceasefire by both sides.”

This Syrian military post is the third of its kind established since the beginning of the current year, after Russia reduced its deployment in southern Syria at the beginning of 2022 following its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Russia resumed its military patrols in southern Syria in early November 2023, after an absence of more than a year, during which a Russian military patrol roamed south of Quneitra between the towns of al-Muealaqa and Ghadir al-Bustan near the al-Safra Company of the 90th Brigade affiliated with the regime in the southern province.

In 2018, the regime regained control of southern Syria with Russian support as part of what was known at the time as the “settlement agreement,” which led to the withdrawal of heavy weapons from opposition factions and the relocation of those rejecting the settlement to the last opposition stronghold in northwestern Syria.

During the same period, regime forces returned to their positions near the occupied Syrian Golan border, while Russia stationed itself in parts of Quneitra and Daraa provinces, then withdrew from them with the start of its war in Ukraine.

The Russian withdrawal from southern Syria opened the door for Iranian militias to infiltrate the area, leaving it exposed to repeated targeting by Israel, which bombed the area frequently and targeted members of these militias.

Since the launch of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) operation Al-Aqsa Flood in the Gaza Strip envelope, and Hezbollah’s engagement of the southern Lebanese front with Israel, the southern front in Syria has witnessed repeated rocket fire towards Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan.

The Israeli Air Force and artillery continued to respond to these rockets by targeting their sources in southern Syria, some of which went further, with Israel repeatedly bombing military sites of the regime’s army in Daraa, Quneitra, and As-Suwayda provinces in response to the firing of these rockets.

In 2020, the Israeli Alma Research Center issued a report that spoke of an Iranian intelligence unit named “Golan File” working to build infrastructure for a “terrorist cell” in southern Syria on behalf of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The report indicated that the purpose of this activity is to gather information and carry out security operations against Israel. Its members and operatives comprise local Syrian residents who know the area well and can blend in with the local population.