Israeli newspaper: Increase in arms smuggling through Golan into Israel

Yedioth Ahronoth, citing Israeli military sources, reported a clear increase in arms-smuggling activity from Syrian territory across the Golan Heights toward the interior of Israel, amid pressures on traditional smuggling routes in Lebanon and Jordan.

It said that the closure of a number of smuggling routes across the Lebanese and Jordanian borders pushed smuggling networks to shift their operations to new corridors, noting that operations through the Golan have escalated significantly recently. It added that the arms trade yields huge profits, with rifles and ammunition sometimes sold at ten times their original prices on the black market.

The newspaper reported that armed elements from the Druze community in the Golan were observed returning from crossings from Syria with rifles and ammunition, indicating a multiplication of the roles of local collaborators or the exploitation of local transit channels to facilitate smuggling. Sources also said that smuggling networks have increasingly relied on drones to transport weapons, because they allow smuggling without the need for traditional land crossings or leaving packages that could be monitored.

The newspaper noted that the reliance on drones creates new security challenges for intelligence and military agencies, as some small drone flights are difficult to detect and stop before the cargo reaches its destination inside Israeli territory.

A-H 

ANHA