Israel kills 13 in southern Syria raid
Israeli forces raided a village in southern Syria and opened fire when they encountered residents, killing at least 13 people, Syrian officials said.
Israel is fighting on multiple fronts as the shaky ceasefire in Gaza continues.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the attack was a “horrible massacre” and that women and children were among the dead.
Syrian state news agency SANA said Israeli forces entered the village of Beit Jin to detain local men and opened heavy fire after encountering residents. Dozens of families left the region.
Israel said on Friday it launched an operation based on intelligence information to capture suspects from the Jamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, operating in Beit Jin to attack Israeli civilians.
The army said that during the raid, several militants opened fire on Israeli troops, wounding half a dozen soldiers who were taken to hospital.
The military said Israeli soldiers opened fire on the militants and responded with air assistance. It was stated that the operation was completed, all suspects were captured and many militants were killed.
Israel has been wary of new authorities in Syria since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in a blitzkrieg led by Islamist rebels in December 2024.
Since Assad’s ouster, Israeli forces have seized a previously UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria established under the 1974 separation agreement. Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria and has pressed for the establishment of a demilitarized zone south of Damascus.
The two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, are negotiating a potential security agreement to ease tensions.
Syrian officials condemned the Israeli attacks as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. On Friday, the government called on the international community for “immediate action” to stop Israeli attacks.
The village’s local official, Walid Okasha, told The Associated Press that those killed were civilians and that one of them had celebrated his wedding the day before.
“The situation is deplorable,” he said.
In a previous raid on Beit Jin in June, Israeli forces captured several people they said were Hamas members (a characterization that residents dispute) and killed a man whose family said he had a history of schizophrenia.
Ongoing clashes in the region have raised concerns that unrest could spread and undermine the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
The deaths in Syria followed a series of strikes by the Israeli air force on parts of southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israel says its ongoing attacks are aimed at preventing Hezbollah from restructuring after last year’s devastating war that ended in a ceasefire.
Israel has killed at least 127 civilians, including children, in attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire a year ago, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Events escalated earlier this week with a rare attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut that killed a senior Hezbollah official whom Israel described as the group’s chief of staff.
