Two residents of the northern Druze village of Mas’ade are accused of conducting surveillance missions on behalf of Iran’s Quds Force, Israeli authorities announced Friday.

The Shin Bet security agency and Israeli police revealed that Bassem and Tahrir Safadi, a father and son, were arrested in November on suspicion of espionage and contact with a foreign agent during wartime.

According to the Shin Bet, Tahrir, 21, a software engineering student, had been conducting surveillance activities for Iran and its regional proxies in recent years under the guidance of his father. Their activities reportedly included collecting information on IDF operations in the Golan Heights. This intelligence was then allegedly relayed to Hussam as-Salam Tawfiq Zidan, a Damascus-based journalist working for Iran’s state-run Al-Alam News Network and the Palestine division of the Quds Force, the extraterritorial branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The Quds Force’s Palestine division is known for aiding Palestinian terrorist organizations in carrying out attacks, authorities said. The Safadis were reportedly instructed by Zidan to photograph troop movements, tanks, and military equipment in the area.

An indictment has been filed against Tahrir Safadi, charging him with severe espionage crimes. Meanwhile, his father, Bassem, is being held in administrative detention due to the lack of a viable criminal alternative and concerns over the potential risk he poses to state security, the Shin Bet said.

“The investigation of this case reaffirms that Iran and its allies continue to seek opportunities to conduct terrorist activities in Israel by exploiting Israeli residents for espionage,” the Shin Bet stated.

The arrests of the Safadis come amidst a surge in espionage cases tied to Iran. Israeli authorities have recently uncovered multiple plots involving citizens allegedly recruited by Tehran for intelligence-gathering and sabotage.

In September, seven Jewish Israelis were detained on charges of spying on security personnel and IDF facilities. The suspects reportedly gathered information for Iranian handlers about Israeli individuals, including a senior security official, as part of a potential assassination plot.

In another case, a man from Ashkelon was arrested for allegedly traveling to Iran twice, receiving payment for missions on Tehran’s behalf, and being recruited to assassinate high-profile Israeli leaders, including the prime minister and defense minister.

October saw additional arrests, including a Ramat Gan couple accused of sabotage and vandalism for an Iranian agent, and a central Israel resident who allegedly acquired a weapon to assassinate an Israeli scientist under Iranian direction. Seven East Jerusalem men were also arrested in October for spying and plotting attacks for Iran.

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