13 Killed by Israeli Army Fire Following Its Incursion in Southern Syria

The Israeli army announced that six Israeli soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, during exchanges of fire while carrying out an operation aimed at detaining "suspects".

Syrian state television reported an "Israeli aggression" on the village of Beit Jinn, located southwest of Damascus at the foothills of Mount Sheikh, resulting in the deaths of 13 people, according to a new toll.

A previous toll from state television indicated that "ten martyrs, including women and children," had been killed.

The official news agency "SANA" quoted the Director of Health for Rural Damascus, Tawfiq Hasaba, stating that "11 injuries were transported to Al-Muwasat Hospital in Damascus and 3 injuries to Qatana Hospital in Rural Damascus, some of whom require surgical operations".

At Al-Muwasat Hospital, AFP photographers saw several wounded individuals receiving first aid, including Iyad Taher, who was injured by shrapnel in his neck.

Taher told AFP while lying on the bed surrounded by family members, "We were sleeping, and we woke up at three in the morning to the sound of gunfire".

He added, "The Israeli army filled the town with armored vehicles and soldiers, then they withdrew and the aircraft came and the shells began to fall," explaining, "They bombed more than one house and bombed the mosque".

The Israeli army stated that its forces carried out "an operation during the night from Thursday to Friday aimed at detaining suspects belonging to the Islamic group," which it said was "active" in the village and conducting "terrorist activities against civilians in the State of Israel".

It reported in a statement that "the operation was fully completed, all wanted individuals were arrested, and several terrorists were eliminated," noting that six Israeli soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, during exchanges of fire.

The Islamic group is an organization active in Lebanon and is an ally of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Israel has previously targeted several of its leaders during its recent war with Hezbollah.

Clashes

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned "the criminal act carried out by a patrol of the Israeli occupation army" through its incursion into Beit Jinn, and then "targeting it with deliberate brutal shelling," considering it a "complete war crime".

It held Israel "fully responsible for the serious aggression and the resulting casualties and destruction," warning that "the continuation of these criminal attacks threatens security and stability in the region".

The incursion began at dawn.

The Mukhtar of Beit Jinn, Abdul Rahman Al-Hamrawi, told AFP that "the Israeli occupation army invaded Beit Jinn to arrest three young men from its residents, leading to clashes with the locals who tried to confront the incursion".

He continued that as a result, "the Israeli occupation forces bombed the village using drones and artillery," causing casualties.

This is not the first time Israeli forces have invaded the town and arrested young men from it.

On June 12, the Syrian Interior Ministry accused Israeli forces of "kidnapping seven individuals" from Beit Jinn and killing a civilian "due to direct gunfire on the locals".

The Israeli army then announced the "arrest of several saboteurs from the terrorist organization Hamas, who were attempting to promote multiple terrorist plots against the citizens of the State of Israel" and its forces in Syria.

Ridwan Othman, a resident of the village who was taken to the hospital, said, "The Israeli army invaded at dawn prayer. Last time they took seven young men and did not return them to us. This time, when they invaded, the youth did not remain silent".

He added, "We do not remain silent about oppression; we resisted Bashar al-Assad for 14 years and we will resist the Zionist entity. This is our land and these are our homes. They enter it at dawn while we are sleeping peacefully".

Displacement

The escalation has forced dozens of families to flee from the village located about forty kilometers from Damascus.

Following the overthrow of the coalition of armed factions from the previous regime on December 8, 2024, after a conflict lasting nearly 14 years, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military sites, claiming its goal is to prevent the new authorities from acquiring the arsenal of the former army.

It has also repeatedly announced ground operations and the detention of individuals suspected of engaging in "terrorist" activities in southern Syria. Concurrently, its forces have invaded the buffer zone in the Golan Heights, established under the 1974 disengagement agreement.

The two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations and have officially been in a state of war for decades. However, they have held several ministerial-level meetings in recent months under American sponsorship.

In September, Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara warned from New York of the risk of new disturbances in the Middle East if his country and Israel do not reach a security agreement, accusing Israel of "delaying negotiations and continuing to violate our airspace and breach our lands".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces deployed in the buffer zone outside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights last week, emphasizing the importance of their presence there, in a move that Damascus considered "illegitimate".