Israeli soldiers arrest French journalist in Syria

On January 8, Israeli soldiers arrested French journalist Sylvain Mercadier and Syrian activist Muhammad Fayyad in a buffer zone near the southern Golan Heights in Syria.

Mercadier said he was beaten, brutally interrogated, and tried to confiscate his equipment by the military. They handcuffed him, gagged him, threatened him, and insulted him. They were then taken to a military base, interrogated for several hours, and released, but their personal belongings, including their cameras and phones, were not returned.

The Israeli army is expanding its military infrastructure to consolidate its control over the Golan Heights, a territory occupied in 1967 and demilitarized by a 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria.