The Israeli military said its forces captured members of an Iranian-directed terrorist cell during a night-time raid in southern Syria on 2 July. Troops from the 474th Golan Brigade, under the IDF’s 210th Division and assisted by field investigators from Unit 504, apprehended the suspects in the villages of Umm al-Lux and Ain al-Batsali near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Several firearms and hand-grenades were seized. Syrian state media reported that three Syrian nationals were taken into custody. Five days later, the IDF announced a second operation in the same border area, saying soldiers from the reservist Alexandroni Brigade detained another cell linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force near Tel Kudna. Local Syrian outlets said at least two people were arrested, while others reported up to six detainees, including a child, during related sweeps in Quneitra province. The twin raids mark the second and third publicly acknowledged ground incursions by Israel into Syria in just over a month, underscoring its campaign to prevent what it calls Iranian entrenchment opposite the Golan Heights. The actions follow a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in June and come amid U.S.-brokered talks aimed at normalising relations between Jerusalem and Damascus. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has pledged to “strike wherever necessary” to keep hostile forces away from Israel’s northern frontier.