The IDF said Friday that a prominent rabbi was allowed to enter Syria earlier this month to meet with soldiers ahead of Passover. The move was not approved through proper channels, the military said, but no disciplinary measures are expected.
The military also responded to a report in The Guardian that it was allowing civilians to hike in newly occupied Syrian territory, saying the report was misleading and that all areas open to civilians in the Golan Heights are within Israeli territory.
IDF officers allowed prominent Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, 82, and one of his aides to enter Syria earlier this month to meet with soldiers ahead of Passover.
According to the IDF, Aviner and his aide are active reservists and they entered Syria as part of their role in reserves, “to deliver materials ahead of Passover.”
“Their entry into Syrian territory was approved without the relevant authority,” the army said, adding that it investigated the process in which their entry to Syria was approved and “the procedures were sharpened.”
The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.
There have been only two minor incidents of troops coming under fire since then, during operations deeper inside Syria and not at the posts near the border.
In November, civilian researcher Zeev Erlich, 71, who was not in the reserves, was allowed into an area of southern Lebanon where fighting was taking place. He entered without the correct approval and was killed, alongside a soldier who was escorting him.
The IDF also said on Friday, countering a report in The Guardian, that it is not allowing civilians into newly occupied Syrian territory for hikes during Passover.
The IDF in a press release published a map showing the newly opened hiking trails, saying that, “in accordance with an assessment of the operational situation, the IDF will allow the reopening of hiking trails in the north of the country which during the war were defined as a closed military zones to the general public. Entry to trails that cross the border fence, in Israeli territory, is prohibited.”
Parts of northern Israel were closed to the general public amid the recent conflict with the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, which started attacking northern Israel on October 8, 2023. The near-daily attacks and Israel’s responses went on for almost a year and escalated into open war for several months until a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, largely ending the fighting.
On April 3, following another misleading report — from Ynet — the IDF responded to a query by saying, “The trails in the Golan Heights are within Israeli territory, and are not in Syria. The trails that are being opened in the Golan Heights were open in the past, except for one trail, the Ruqqad River, located near the Hejaz railway, a route that was open years back.
“In preparation for Passover, the Northern Command, together with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the Defense Ministry, and the local authorities, are reopening or opening for the first time trails for hikes in northern Israel. The opening of these routes is enabled following the creation of a security reality in the north that allows the routes to be opened to the general public,” the military said.
On April 6, the military in a press release said that during an assessment, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir “emphasized his instructions that the IDF will not allow civilians to go on hikes over the international border, but only in Israeli territory and in places where hikes were held in the past, in accordance with the security situation.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.