A group of settler activists including young children crossed the border into Syria on Monday in an attempt to establish a new settlement in land currently held by the Israel Defense Forces.

The military said troops were dispatched to the scene, across from the border town of Alonei Habashan, after several civilian vehicles were seen crossing into Syria.

“IDF troops at the scene returned the civilians safely to the territory of the State of Israel after a short time,” the military said, adding that they were called in for questioning by police.

“This is a grave incident that constitutes a criminal offense and endangers the public and IDF troops,” it added.

i24news first reported the case, identifying the group of activists as the “Bashan Pioneers,” named after the biblical name for the Golan Heights and southern Syria region.

In videos from the scene, the activists were seen erecting a sign for a new settlement they named “Nave Habashan,” dancing and holding what they said was a cornerstone ceremony for the new community.

According to the i24news report, the organizers had planned to stay inside Syrian territory, with their children, for a prolonged period.

Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, the IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria, mostly within the UN-patrolled buffer zone, with Jerusalem arguing this was necessary to defend the country amid the country’s takeover by groups with jihadist ideologies.

Israel’s regional military conflicts since October 7, 2023, have fueled far-right settler activism in several arenas: In Gaza, activists have increasingly lobbied for resettling the Strip following the war there. In Lebanon and Syria, smaller fringe groups advocate for a nation spanning wider regional territory.

In December, a group of settler activists entered Lebanese territory — in an area under Israeli control at the time — in an attempt to set up a settlement there, before being cleared by the IDF.

Support for Jewish settlement in Syria and Lebanon remains minuscule, and no politicians or major figures beyond fringe settler groups have called for their establishment.

No settlements were established in southern Lebanon during Israel’s 1982–2000 occupation of the area, when the IDF maintained a security zone there.

This is in contrast to calls throughout the ongoing war to settle Gaza, an idea that has relatively broad support from much of the Israeli far-right, most notably Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, both of whom have repeatedly advocated for the idea, but which has also received the backing of multiple politicians in the ruling Likud party.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that Israel intends to resettle the Gaza Strip.