IDF arrests suspected weapons dealers in southern Syria, says military

IDF troops detained several weapons dealers during an overnight raid in southern Syria, the military says.

Troops of the 210th “Bashan” Regional Division and members of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 arrested and questioned the suspected dealers, “following intelligence indications regarding several suspects who had transferred various types of weaponry,” the IDF says.

The military says troops also seized several weapons in the area.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers 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.”