5 IDF troops among 12 detained in gun-running bust on Syrian border

Israeli security forces announced on Wednesday that they uncovered a weapons smuggling ring in northern Israel, arresting 12 suspects — five IDF soldiers in the standing army and reserves, four Israeli civilians, and three Syrian nationals.

The suspects were detained in the past month following an investigation carried out by the Shin Bet security agency, Israel Police, and IDF, over suspicions of involvement in a network smuggling various weapons from Syria into Israel, a joint statement said.

The security agency said that the five soldiers crossed the border into Syria near the Druze town of Hader on several occasions and brought back weapons that were then handed over to criminal elements in northern Israel.

Among the soldiers is Master Sgt. Iyad Halabi, 45, a resident of the northern Druze village of Yarka and a member of a regional brigade in northern Israel.

The other soldiers detained in the case are named as Suheil Maadi, 21, a reservist from Maghar; Salah Hanfis, 23, a standing army soldier from Shefa-Amr; Amal Aslim, 26, a reservist from Yarka; and Yazen Salah, 21, a noncommissioned officer from Maghar.

The Shin Bet and police said their investigation revealed that several days before the suspects were detained, the smuggling ring “worked to bring in an unusually large and exceptional cache of weapons, including explosives, RPGs, assault rifles, and a large quantity of additional ammunition.”

Last month, during an overnight operation in the Hader area of southern Syria, IDF troops located dozens of weapons and detained three Syrian nationals involved in the smuggling attempts, the statement said.

The weapons and suspects were handed over to the Shin Bet, and an investigation revealed that the arms were intended to be smuggled into Israel, the agency said.

The Shin Bet said those weapons were supposed to reach Rami Abu Shaah, 49, a resident of Shefa-Amr, who was in frequent contact with Ruad Albaser, 25, one of the detained Syrian smugglers from Hader.

On Thursday, indictments are to be filed against all of the suspects in the case, the agency added.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Last month, the IDF said it busted two attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon.