Last night (Thursday), a number of Israeli civilians reached the Majdal Shams area and crossed the border into Syrian territory.

IDF forces operating at the location searched for the civilians in order to return them safely to Israeli territory. Earlier this evening (Friday), the civilians were located in the border area, detained, and transferred for further processing by the Israel Police. Additionally, in several separate incidents during the day, a number of Israeli civilians arrived at the border area in the southern Golan Heights with the intention of crossing the border into Syrian territory. The forces prevented their crossing and transferred the suspects for processing by the Israel Police. In recent times, the IDF has identified an increase in incidents of this type, which divert the army’s attention from ongoing operational activity and harm security. The IDF strongly condemns the incident and emphasizes that this is a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF forces. The IDF expects law enforcement agencies to prosecute those involved and act decisively against this phenomenon.