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BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces Wednesday of forcibly displacing residents of southern Syria, which Israel has demanded be demilitarised in a new security deal Syria is seeking with its neighbor.
The statement quoted the Israeli military as saying it is operating in southern Syria “to protect the citizens of the State of Israel” and that its activities are “in accordance with international law.”
The report came as Syrian state media said Israeli forces seized several people in the south, and a day after Damascus said it was working with Washington to reach mutual “security understandings” with Israel.
“Israeli forces occupying parts of southern Syria since December 2024 have carried out a range of abuses against residents, including forced displacement, which is a war crime,” HRW said in a statement.
As Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad on December 8, Israel deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights that has separated the countries’ forces since an armistice that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Israel has also launched hundreds of air strikes on targets in Syria and carried out incursions deeper into the south despite opening talks with the interim authorities.
HRW said that “Israeli forces have seized and demolished homes, blocked residents from their property and livelihoods, and arbitrarily detained residents and transferred them to Israel.”
The New York-based watchdog said it interviewed residents, reviewed images and analyzed satellite imagery to corroborate accounts.
Early Wednesday, Syrian state television said Israeli forces seized four men from villages in and near the buffer zone in the southern province of Quneitra “during a raid and search operation... that targeted a number of homes.”
Earlier this month, state media said Israeli forces seized seven people in the same area, with the Israeli army saying it apprehended individuals “suspected of terrorist activity” and took them to Israel for further questioning.
On Tuesday, Syria announced a US- and Jordan-backed roadmap for restoring stability in the south after deadly sectarian violence in the Druze minority heartland of Sweida prompted Israeli military intervention in July.
A Syrian military official told AFP that heavy weapons had been withdrawn from the south in a process that began after the Sweida violence.

OSLO: Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), networks of volunteers risking their lives to feed and help people facing war and famine in the country, were on Wednesday awarded Norway’s Rafto Prize for human rights work.
Already one of the world’s poorest countries, Sudan has been ravaged by a deadly war since April 2023 between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), each side led by generals vying for power.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than 14 million from their homes, according to figures from the United Nations.
The UN has called it “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” where famine has spread in parts of the country and cholera has affected large areas.
The Rafto Foundation honored the ERRs “for their courageous work to preserve the most fundamental human right — the right to life.”
Shortly after the first shots of the conflict rang out, a surge of solidarity emerged in the country that has no functioning state, infrastructure or basic services.
Despite meagre resources, neighborhood volunteers quickly set up self-funded “community kitchens” to feed their neighbors, at times going door-to-door.
The movement also provides civilians with health care and evacuation help.

- ‘Innovative aid efforts’ -

The ERRs rose out of the resistance committees that organized pro-democracy protests during the revolution that ended the reign of dictator Omar Al-Bashir in 2019.
The movement now counts thousands of volunteers.
The ERRs “save lives and maintain human dignity in a place of misery and despair,” the Rafto Foundation said.
“Their innovative mutual aid efforts through citizen participation contribute to developing a civil society and is essential to building a better future,” it added.
With communications cut frequently and few journalists on the ground, the volunteers also play a key role in documenting attacks on civilians.
Regarded with suspicion by the two rival camps, some volunteers have been killed, raped, beaten or had their aid pillaged, according to witness accounts to AFP.
The Rafto Foundation, citing media reports, said more than 100 volunteers had been killed since the beginning of the conflict.
It urged the two sides to agree to “a ceasefire and an end to the fighting in Sudan and for protection of civilian lives for Sudan.”
“We call on the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to respect international humanitarian law and protect humanitarian relief workers,” it added.
First awarded in 1987 and named after Norwegian historian and human rights activist Thorolf Rafto, the prize comes with $20,000.
It has previously been given to four people — Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-Jung and Shirin Ebadi — who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, also awarded in Norway.
The winner of that prize will be announced on October 10 in Oslo.