The Israeli military said on Monday it had detained members of an Iranian Quds Force cell — the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards — in Syria during an overnight raid, the second such operation in a week.
In a statement Monday, the military said that the cell was arrested in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria, though it did not give further details.
“For the second time in the past week, the division’s troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area,” the statement said.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that following the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, most Iranian forces and their allies had withdrawn from Syria.
On Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that multiple operations from Israeli forces had happened Sunday, with convoys searching homes across several villages before making arrests.
“The number of people arrested by Israeli forces in the Quneitra countryside rose to six people, including two children, following an incursion carried out by the forces in the villages of Suwaysa and the vicinity of the town of Nab' al-Sakhr in the central Quneitra countryside,” a statement said.
It comes as the Israeli military carried out overnight attacks on Iran’s Yemeni allies, the Houthis, which continue to carry out regular missile attacks against the Jewish state in its campaign in allegiance with Iran-aligned Hamas in Gaza.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X that Houthi infrastructure was targeted.
“The fate of Yemen is the same as the fate of Tehran," he said, referring to a recent Israeli campaign targeting Iran.
"As part of Operation Black Flag, the IDF has now forcefully struck terror targets of the Houthi terror regime in the ports of Hodeidah, Al-Salif, and Ras Isa, the Ras Katib power station, and the ship Galaxy Leader, which was hijacked by the Houthis about two years ago and is currently used for terror activities in the Red Sea.”
The Israeli military said that approximately 20 fighter jets used over 50 munitions in the operation.
A statement from the Houthis’ Telegram channel said the group had repelled the attack.
“Our air defense succeeded in confronting the Zionist aggression against our country and thwarting its plan to target a number of Yemeni cities. This was achieved by forcing a number of combat formations participating in the aggression to leave the airspace, preventing them from launching raids,” the statement said.
The Israeli military said two missiles were launched by the Houthis in the early hours of Monday morning in response, though it had not confirmed an interception.
The Houthi statement said the operation used 11 missiles and drones targeting Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, Ashdod Port, Ashkelon power station and the port of Eilat on Israel’s Red Sea coast.
