Currently Online 
Israeli incursions into southern Syria ‘politically motivated’
Gamal Mansour, a political science lecturer at the University of Toronto, has said Israel’s latest incursion into southern Syria is likely a “pressure tactic” aimed at pushing the new Syrian government to agree to a security deal more favourable to Israel.
“The Israeli incursions right now do not seem to have any security leg to stand on,” Mansour told Al Jazeera. “These are politically motivated. I think they are part of a pressure tactic that Israel is trying to apply to the al-Sharaa government so that the al-Sharaa government either breaks under these pressures or folds in front of Israel and gives Israel a maximised type of peace deal.”
Israel hopes such a deal, he said, would enable it to keep its “current possessions in place”, retain “maximum freedom of action” and offer Syria “absolutely no guarantees”.
Israel is “raising the bar to an impossible threshold for the Syrian regime right now to meet”, Mansour continued.
“This is trying to basically move the Syrians into a position where either they say ‘no, we can’t have a deal right now’ and then it’s on them, or they move to a deal on Israel’s terms, which is full-blown ascension into the Abraham Accords, which is completely impossible for the current Syrian regime.”
Yemen’s Houthis decry Israeli attack on Syria’s Beit Jinn
Yemen’s Houthis have condemned the “treacherous Israeli attack” on the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn.
In a statement, the armed group said the ground incursion and air strikes represent a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty and a further expansion of Israel’s occupation policies. It praised residents of the town for “heroic resistance” during their confrontation with Israeli forces that wounded six troops.
Armed resistance is the only “effective deterrent against Israeli aggression”, it said, warning concessions won’t stop Israel’s “expansionist agenda”.
The Houthis also affirmed Syria’s right to respond to the assault “by all available means”.
Israel refusing to give up seized Syrian territory and may ‘expand presence’
Haid Haid, a consulting fellow with Chatham House, says Israel has repeatedly launched violent incursions in southern Syria since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last December, but today’s raid appears to be the first time fed-up villagers fought back.
At least six Israeli troops were wounded during the assault early Friday, which the army said was carried out against people “promoting terrorist plots against the citizens of the State of Israel” in Beit Jinn.
“I think it’s not surprising after months of operating freely, grabbing whoever they want, and killing people that communities there would fight back,” Haid told Al Jazeera from London.
Israel seized Syrian territory in the country’s south after al-Assad was ousted for what it calls a “security zone”.
“Although Syria has not posed any threat and the Syrian government has been saying we are more than willing to discuss an arrangement that will address your security concerns, the Israelis have been refusing to do that,” said Haid.
“And I think one of the main reasons is their unwillingness to let go of those [Syrian] territories while potentially expanding their presence there.”
