By Abdulrahman Shaheen | Related Press
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli forces raided a Syrian village and opened fireplace once they had been confronted by residents on Friday, killing at the least 13 individuals, Syrian officers mentioned, within the deadliest Israeli assault since its troops seized a swath of southern Syria a 12 months in the past.
Syria’s International Ministry referred to as the assault a “horrific massacre” and mentioned girls and youngsters had been amongst these killed.
Israel mentioned Friday it carried out an operation to apprehend suspects from the Jamaa Islamiya militant group in Beit Jin who had been planning IED and rocket assaults into Israel. It mentioned different militants opened fireplace on the troops, injuring six, and that troops returned fireplace, together with bringing in air assist. It mentioned the operation had concluded, the entire suspects had been apprehended and a lot of militants had been killed.
An area official within the village, Walid Okasha, advised The Related Press that these killed had been civilians. Among the many useless had been a person, his spouse, his two kids and his brother in addition to one other man who had gotten married the day earlier than.
Firas Daher, a Beit Jin resident, advised the AP that troops moved in round 3 a.m. and had been met by “slight resistance, with light weapons.” Troops responded with drones and helicopters and fireplace from heavy machine weapons. “Whenever anyone would move inside the village or any car would move, it would get hit. When we tried to take injured people to the hospital, they would hit the car carrying them,” he mentioned.
Because the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Israeli forces have held a slice of southern Syria that was beforehand a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone beneath a 1974 disengagement settlement. Troops have usually carried out operations in villages and cities inside and outdoors the zone, together with raids snatching individuals it says are suspected militants. Israel has additionally launched tons of of airstrikes on Syrian army websites and pushed for a demilitarized zone south of Damascus.
Israeli raids have a number of occasions been met by armed native residents. In April, troops raided the city of Nawa, and when confronted by residents, the army carried out airstrikes within the city, killing 9 individuals. A month earlier, Israeli forces killed six individuals within the village of Koayiah in related clashes throughout a raid.
In a earlier raid on Beit Jin in June, Israeli forces seized a number of individuals who they mentioned had been Hamas members — a characterization disputed by residents — and killed a person whose household mentioned had a historical past of schizophrenia.
Israel says it seized the 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria in a pre-emptive transfer to stop militants from shifting into the realm after Islamist insurgents toppled Assad. It says the transfer is non permanent, however critics accuse Israel of profiting from Syria’s turmoil for a land seize. Israel nonetheless controls the Golan Heights that it captured from Syria in the course of the 1967 Mideast warfare and later annexed — a transfer not acknowledged by a lot of the worldwide group.
Syrian officers have condemned the Israeli incursions as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. On Friday the federal government referred to as for the worldwide group to take “urgent action” to halt Israeli incursions.
Israel has considered Syria’s new authorities, headed by former rebel chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, with suspicion. The 2 international locations, which do not need diplomatic relations, have been negotiating a possible safety settlement to de-escalate.
The deaths in Syria adopted a sequence of strikes by Israel’s air drive in components of southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israel says its ongoing strikes are aimed toward stopping Hezbollah from rebuilding after a devastating warfare final 12 months ended with a ceasefire.
The United Nations on Tuesday mentioned Israel had killed at the least 127 civilians, together with kids, in its strikes on Lebanon for the reason that ceasefire a 12 months in the past. Issues escalated earlier this week with an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing a senior Hezbollah official whom Israel described because the group’s chief of employees.
