LONDON: The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had detained several Israeli settlers who tried to cross into Syrian territory through the Mount Hermon area.
The group, which calls itself the Bashan Pioneers, posted a brief video on Instagram earlier on Sunday saying its members were “marching beyond the old border in order to settle in the Bashan region.”
The video caption said about 100 activists were taking part in the march “with the aim of establishing a Jewish settlement there.”
Israeli media, however, gave varying figures. Public broadcaster Kan reported there were about 70 participants and said on Monday that Israeli forces arrested “six Jewish activists” who tried to enter Syrian territory from Mount Hermon “in violation of the law.”
The Israeli military dispatched forces to the area, blocked the group from crossing the border and detained those involved before transferring them to police custody, the Israeli news website Ynet reported.
The Times of Israel quoted the Israeli army condemning the attempted border crossing and calling it a “serious incident and a criminal offense that endangers both IDF soldiers and civilians.”
The settlers, meanwhile, accused the military of using “severe violence” during the arrests and confiscating their phones despite what they described as their “complete passivity,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
אלימות קשה של שוטרים וחיילים כלפי עשרות נערים שנכנסו לאזור הבשן בסוריה בדרישה להחזיר את ההתיישבות היהודית לאזור pic.twitter.com/G9lruJTrKd
— אלחנן גרונר (@elchanangr) July 6, 2026
Kan military correspondent Itay Blumental posted on X on Monday that forces from the Israeli army’s 210th Division had arrested six members from the Bashan Pioneers who had attempted to enter Syria illegally from Mount Hermon and had transferred them to the police.
Blumental added in the post: “There is no law, and there is no judge. Anarchy.”
מה חשבתם שיקרה? כעת נודע לנו שכוחות צה"ל מאוגדה 210 עצרו לפני זמן קצר 6 פעילים מ"חלוצי הבשן" שניסו לחדור לסוריה מהחרמון בניגוד לחוק. השישה הועברו לידי המשטרה
אין דין, ואין דיין. אנרכיה. https://t.co/L7geQLJLUN
— איתי בלומנטל Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) July 6, 2026
The previous day, he said in another post on X that the 210th Division had “taken control of the criminals near the border” after about 70 settlers attempted to “infiltrate Syria.”
Blumental also wrote that senior military officials were blaming police, prosecutors and the courts for failing to impose deterrent punishments on those involved. He said that the “criminals from ‘Pioneers of the Bashan’ receive backing from coalition members.”
He shared a video showing Israeli soldiers trying to remove settlers in a mountainous area.
The group said it had “intentionally positioned itself in a mountainous area to make evacuation difficult,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Bashan Pioneers group, or Haluzey Habashan, calls for the establishment of settlements on Syrian territory. (Haluzey Habashan photo)
The attempted crossing is reportedly the latest in a series of actions by members from the movement in areas near the Syrian border.
In April, Israeli media reported that members of the Bashan Pioneers entered the town of Ain Al-Tineh in Syria’s Quneitra countryside.
The movement takes its name from Bashan, the historical term for a region spanning parts of southern Syria, including the Golan, Hauran, Al-Lajat and Jabal Al-Arab. According to Israeli media, it presents itself as a religious and historical project and promotes stronger Israeli ties to territory beyond the ceasefire line in the Golan.
The group reportedly emerged in 2025 amid changing security conditions along the border between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan, particularly after the Israeli military expanded its presence around Mount Hermon in late 2024.
On Dec. 8, 2024, the Israeli military moved troops into the UN-monitored buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria, exploiting the security vacuum created by the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.
As a rebel offensive swept through Damascus, Israeli troops also took positions on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the Levant. Israeli leaders described the move as a security measure, while the UN said it breached the 1974 disengagement agreement.
