Thirteen people were killed in an Israeli raid in southern Syria yesterday, Syrian state media reported, with Damascus accusing Israel of a “criminal attack” in a village where Israel said its troops came under fire during an operation to arrest militants.
The Israeli military said six soldiers were wounded, three of them severely, by militant fire during the raid in the village of Beit Jinn.
The casualty tolls suggest the Israeli raid spiralled into one of the deadliest since President Bashar Al Assad was toppled a year ago.
Israel frequently bombed Syria when it was ruled by Assad and stepped up its military operations in the country after he was ousted, citing goals that include keeping militants away from the frontier.
The Israeli military said its troops had launched an operation to detain suspects belonging to Jama’a Islamiya – a Lebanese group which fired rockets at Israel from Lebanon during the Gaza war – accusing them of involvement in “terrorist plots”. The military described the raid as part of routine operations in the area in recent months.
Syrian state news agency SANA, which reported 13 people killed and dozens wounded, said Israeli forces shelled Beit Jinn at 3.40am and Israeli troops entered the village. Residents confronted the Israeli forces, which responded, leading to “violent clashes”, it added.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the Israeli attack killed more than 10 civilians including women and children, damaged property and forced residents to flee their homes, accusing Israel of committing a “full-fledged war crime” and warning the strikes threatened security and stability in the region.
UN deputy special envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi condemned Israel’s incursion as “a grave and unacceptable violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, further destabilising an already fragile environment.”
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