Syria: Israel shells Quneitra countryside amid resumption of excavation project

Israeli forces shelled agricultural land with artillery on Sunday in the southern countryside of Quneitra in southern Syria, between the village of Briqa and the town of Kawdana, coinciding with the resumption of excavation work west of the village of Al-Asha along the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan. This comes within the 'Sufa 53' project, which began in mid-2022 and expanded across several areas, damaging thousands of dunams of farmland. Damascus says these are violations of the buffer zone and demands an Israeli withdrawal and adherence to the 1974 disengagement agreement, while Israel links its movements to security considerations.