Seven men were charged Thursday on suspicion of trafficking army-grade weapons from Syria earlier this year, during clashes between regime forces and Druze in the country’s south.
Masses of Druze Israelis, mostly young men, poured into southern Syria during the fighting over the summer to protect their brethren, and police arrested a handful as they crossed the border to return home.
Prosecutors accused four Druze Israelis and three Syrian nationals of “exploiting the conflict in Syria to smuggle weapons into Israel,” at times under the guise of “humanitarian activity.”
The alleged gun-running continued even after authorities had patched up Israel’s northern border, relying on five IDF soldiers stationed in southern Syria, who were later arrested in October as part of the same investigation.
The troops helped spirit the contraband on several occasions from Syrian territory to criminal elements in northern Israel, prosecutors said. The suspected soldiers have yet to be charged.
In two separate indictments, the defendants were charged in the Nazareth District Court with importing and possessing arms, weapons trafficking and conspiracy.
The three Syrian citizens, from the Druze village of Hader, were nabbed by the IDF in Syria during an overnight operation. Prosecutors did not divulge where the four Druze Israelis were detained.
One of Thursday’s indictments is filed against Rami Abu Shaah, from Shfaram, and the three Syrian Druze, who allegedly sold the former an AK-47, which he smuggled back into Israel for his own personal use.
Abu Shaah later recruited an IDF soldier serving in southern Syria to smuggle another handgun and 200 rounds of ammunition on his behalf, prosecutors wrote.
Members of a smuggling ring uncovered by the Shin Bet, police and IDF in northern Israel, in a handout graphic issued on November 19, 2025. (Shin Bet)
Abu Shaah also allegedly conspired to import a cache of army-grade weapons into Israel, transferring money to the Syrian defendants for them to purchase two RPG launchers, 10 RPG grenades, two assault rifles and two ammunition crates.
The Syrian defendants tried to find someone to transport the weapons, but were arrested before they could follow through with the plan.
The other indictment, filed against three Druze Israelis from Yarka, accused the defendants of conspiring with two soldiers and the same Syrian nationals to smuggle arms into Israel.
The exchange was allegedly carried out via an army truck driver who brought the weapons, including seven assault rifles and two handguns, to an IDF base in the Golan Heights, where they were picked up by the defendants.
The Shin Bet and police said their investigation revealed that several days before the suspects were detained, the smuggling ring “worked to bring in an unusually large and exceptional cache of weapons, including explosives, RPGs, assault rifles, and a large quantity of additional ammunition.”
Weapons found by Israeli forces following an attempted smuggling from Syria into Israel, in a handout photo issued on November 19, 2025. (Shin Bet)
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.
Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon. 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.
In October, the IDF said it busted two attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon.
