Israel Captures Alleged Iranian Spy in Special Operation Inside Syria
The Israeli military announced Sunday that it captured a Syrian man accused of spying for Iran during a recent special operation inside Syria.
“During an intelligence-based, special operation in Syrian territory that took place in recent months, soldiers of the Egoz Unit together with field interrogators from Unit 504, led by the 210th Division, detained an Iranian terror network operative in Syria,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
According to the IDF, the suspect is Ali Soleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian national from the village of Saida in southern Daraa Governorate, who was reportedly gathering intelligence on Israeli troop movements near the contested Golan Heights.
The IDF added that Al-Assi’s capture “prevented a future attack and led to the exposure of the operational methods of Iranian terror networks” in southern Syria.
The IDF said that in footage from his interrogation, Al-Assi claimed an Iranian-linked individual recruited him. He was instructed to surveil the border area while posing as an agent of Syrian military intelligence.
Although the IDF did not specify when the raid occurred, Sham FM—a pro-Syrian government radio station—reported on Sunday that Israeli forces conducted a “kidnapping operation” over the summer.
Earlier this year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that on July 19, Israeli forces apprehended a Syrian man “who worked as a driver to transport milk” in the town of Al-Razatiya.
Since Hezbollah began its campaign of shelling, rocket attacks, and drone strikes on communities in northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas launched a surprise armed incursion from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, Israel has conducted numerous airstrikes against Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Syria. However, Sunday’s announcement marks the first time Israel has acknowledged ground operations inside Syrian territory.
