5 IDF troops among 12 detained in gun-running bust on Syrian border

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

53% : The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.
47% : Iyad Halabi, 45, a resident of the northern Druze village of Yarka and a member of a regional brigade in northern Israel.
40% : The weapons and suspects were handed over to the Shin Bet, and an investigation revealed that the arms were intended to be smuggled into Israel, the agency said.
37% : Israeli security forces announced on Wednesday that they uncovered a weapons smuggling ring in northern Israel, arresting 12 suspects -- five IDF soldiers in the standing army and reserves, four Israeli civilians, and three Syrian nationals.
34% : Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of "hostile forces," including Lebanon's Hezbollah.
33% : The security agency said that the five soldiers crossed the border into Syria near the Druze town of Hader on several occasions and brought back weapons that were then handed over to criminal elements in northern Israel.
26% : The suspects were detained in the past month following an investigation carried out by the Shin Bet security agency, Israel Police, and IDF, over suspicions of involvement in a network smuggling various weapons from Syria into Israel, a joint statement said.

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