Israeli forces arrested a young man from al-Rafid (southern Quneitra countryside in southwestern Syria) during an incursion carried out days ago, saying they detained a person linked to the Islamic State group, while a journalist from Quneitra denied the Israeli account.

Quneitra-based journalist Nour Golan told Enab Baladi that an Israeli force advanced into al-Rafid and the neighboring village of al-Hiran on 17 December.

Golan said the troops entered through a military gate in the fence separating the area from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, from the western side of al-Rafid. They then deployed in the town’s streets and along the road linking it to al-Hiran, which is considered al-Rafid’s eastern entrance.

During the operation, Israeli forces raided a house and searched it thoroughly, then arrested a 19-year-old man, Ali Musab al-Bashir, after a scuffle broke out between him and one of the soldiers as they entered the home. He was then taken into the Israeli-occupied Golan.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on 20 December, on his Facebook page, that “the 52nd Battalion of the 474th Brigade carried out a night operation over the weekend in the al-Rafid area in southern Syria, during which it apprehended a suspect involved in terrorist activity and directed by the (Islamic State) organization,” as he put it.

However, journalist Nour Golan told Enab Baladi that the detainee is “a civilian who works at one of the farms and has no connection to the accusations leveled against him.”

Adraee added that the operation was carried out with the participation of field investigators from “Unit 504,” and that “the suspect was transferred for interrogation inside Israel.” He also noted that “combat equipment” was found during the operation and seized, stressing that forces of the “210th Division” continue to be deployed in the area “to protect the security of Israel’s citizens and the residents of the Golan Heights.”

The latest arrest comes days after a UN fact-finding mission delegation visited Quneitra on 13 December.

The delegation’s mission was to document Israeli army violations in Quneitra governorate, where hardly a day passes without Israeli forces carrying out either an arrest or an incursion, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent.

The correspondent said the committee met with residents, listened to their complaints and what they have been subjected to as a result of Israeli violations, and reviewed the damage left by Israeli incursions to civilians’ property, homes, and farmland.

Israeli army targets civilians in Khan Arnabeh in Quneitra