Israeli Forces Clash with Local Militants in Southern Syria, Dozens Killed and Injured

Syria: "More Than 10 Killed, a War Crime"

Clashes between Israeli forces stationed in Syria and local militant groups have resulted in numerous casualties.

Israeli forces engage armed groups in southern Syria. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to Syria's state-run SANA news agency, at around 3:40 a.m. local time on the 28th, Israeli forces stormed the village of Beit Jin in southern Syria, launching shelling and airstrikes. As village residents resisted, fighting broke out.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a conflict monitoring group, reported that 13 people were killed and about 20 were injured. Beit Jin is located approximately 35 kilometers from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The Israeli military stated that the 55th Reserve Brigade conducted an operation to arrest suspects affiliated with the militant group Jamaa al-Islamiya. According to the Israeli military, these suspects had carried out terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians.

The Israeli military added, "All suspects have been apprehended and multiple terrorists were killed," noting that six Israeli soldiers were also wounded.

In December of last year, immediately after the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, Israel deployed troops beyond the occupied Golan Heights into Syrian territory, where they remain stationed to this day. Ahmed al-Shara, a former HTS leader, is currently the acting president of Syria.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the incident in a statement, saying, "The brutal shelling of Beit Jin village by Israeli occupation forces constitutes a war crime," and denounced it as "a horrific massacre that claimed the lives of more than 10 civilians, including women and children."

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the United Nations Security Council and the Arab League (AL) to take urgent action to halt Israel's repeated acts of aggression.

An Israeli military official explained, "Two of the arrested suspects were involved in terrorist activities, including planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and planning rocket attacks against Israel," and added, "Counter-terrorism operations are conducted in this area on a weekly basis."