An Israeli force raided at dawn today, Friday, 14 November, the home of the al-Breidi family in the village of Jamlah in western rural Daraa (southern Syria).
Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Daraa reported that a unit from the Israeli army stormed the family’s house at around 2 a.m., searching the home for weapons and for one of the sons, but did not find anything.
After the search, the soldiers interrogated all family members and confiscated a laptop belonging to one of the daughters, which she uses for her university studies.
The house raided by the Israeli patrol is the home of Mahna al-Breidi, which had already been stormed on 4 October, when Israeli forces arrested his son and several of his son’s friends who were in the house, handcuffed them all, and brought in dogs to search for weapons, without finding anything, according to what Mahna previously told Enab Baladi.
After that raid, the Israeli force seized three mobile phones and a computer from the house and took al-Breidi’s son away, and he has not learned anything about his fate since.
The detainees are Mohammad al-Breidi, Mahmoud al-Breidi, and Mohammad al-Samouri, whose fate remains unknown at the time of writing.
Appeal to the government
Enab Baladi previously interviewed Mahna al-Breidi, the father of one of the young men detained by Israel from his home on 4 October.
At the time, Mahna told Enab Baladi that Israeli forces enter any area they wish in the western Yarmouk Basin in Daraa whenever they want, without any force to deter them, and that they sometimes rely on “malicious” reports from residents collaborating with them.
He appealed to both the Syrian government and international organizations to intervene immediately to reveal the fate of the detainees.
Limited role for UNDOF
Families of the detainees earlier appealed to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which is present in the village of Jamlah, to disclose the fate of their sons detained by Israel.
UNDOF responded in a letter in English, stating that, according to the information available to the UN mission, the Israeli army is holding the individuals from Jamlah on the grounds of their involvement in “terrorist” activities against Israel.
UNDOF said the detainees are currently awaiting trial before the Israeli judiciary, are being held in “legally sound” conditions, and that their health is stable.
However, Mahna al-Breidi told Enab Baladi that this was the only information they had received about their sons and that it was not sufficient.
He called for their release or for clarification of the type of “terrorist activity” Israel is accusing them of.
Mahna said he had approached the Syrian Foreign Ministry and Information Ministry in Damascus but received no answers from either.