A report from NGO Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of forcible displacing Syrians in areas of southern Syria where the army has taken control, demolishing homes and blocking people from accessing agricultural lands in areas where military installations are being built.
Israel Defense Forces troops took control of territory along the border in December 2024 following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and typically operate within 15 kilometers of the frontier to thwart threats to Israel, including the entrenchment of Iran-backed armed groups.
“Rather than responding to an immediate threat, Israeli forces appear to have cleared and destroyed homes as part of a broader strategy to entrench their military presence,” a statement from the group says regarding Israeli actions it documented in the buffer zone village of al-Hamadiya, accusing the IDF of war crimes.
The report says the IDF defended its actions as complying with international law, claiming that the demolitions are an “operational necessity.”
The report also accuses Israel of arresting Syrians and transferring them across the border, actions that the report says the IDF admitted to, while defending the moves as intelligence based and subject to judicial oversight.
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