Four soldiers were lightly injured by a blast apparently caused by an old Syrian grenade during operations in southern Syria on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The military said the troops were taken to a hospital for treatment.
According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers had located weapons during an overnight operation in the Mount Hermon area. Among the weapons was an old grenade that exploded for unclear reasons.
The IDF said the operation in the area has been wrapped up, and the blast is being investigated.
Israel has been involved militarily in Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024. In the immediate aftermath, Israel occupied Syria’s demilitarized zone and destroyed most of the Assad military’s facilities in a widespread bombing campaign.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, the IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria, mostly within the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported Tuesday that Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani met with Israeli officials to discuss de-escalating tensions and restoring a 1974 ceasefire agreement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on Tuesday’s talks, which Hebrew media outlets had reported would be attended by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack.
Israel and Syria have technically been at war since 1948. Israel conquered around two-thirds of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1979 Six Day War, and annexed the territory in 1981, in a move not recognized by much of the international community, with the exception of the United States.
A year after the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, Israel and Syria reached an agreement on the disengagement line that Damascus is now pushing to restore.
Israeli troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) deep into Syria since December, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.�
In recent months, the IDF said ground troops had conducted over 300 “routine operations� in southern Syria, including arresting suspected terror operatives, preventing “enemy entrenchment� and thwarting arms smuggling to Lebanon.
In July, the IDF conducted airstrikes on Syrian government forces to support Syrian Druze — who have close relations with Israel’s Druze community — amid violent clashes with regime-allied forces in the Sweida area of southern Syria.
The military has also been operating a medical facility next to the Druze town of Hader, just across the border, to treat the Druze residents of the town and other Syrians. The “forward mobile triage� site was established in May.
The army has been constructing a barrier, dubbed “New East,� along the Israeli-Syrian border, which resembles a trench, to prevent the crossing of vehicles.
Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.