An Israeli military operation on a Syrian village Friday morning turned into the deadliest attack by a foreign nation on Syria since the ouster of former dictator Bashar al-Assad last year.
At least 13 people were killed and 24 were injured after Israeli forces infiltrated the Beit Jinn village in southern Syria to capture two members of Jama’a Islamiya, a Lebanese Islamist militant group. The Israeli military said in a statement that the two members of the militant group were planning future attacks on Israel.
The incident turned deadly after clashes broke out, the Israeli military said in a statement. Six Israeli troops were wounded, including three seriously injured, while the two militants were captured and taken back to Israel, the statement added.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said Israel launched a “savage and deliberate bombardment” that killed women and children after residents of the village “confronted” the Israeli soldiers.
Five members of one Syrian family were killed in the Israeli attack, the medical director of al-Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus told Syria’s state news agency. The attack also triggered “large-scale displacement” into neighboring areas after residents fled the bombardment, Syria’s Foreign Ministry added.
After the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad last year, Israel occupied a number of villages in southern Syria, expressing distrust of the Islamist rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharaa. The Israeli government launched a series of air strikes and military incursions targeting Assad’s military infrastructure and weaponry in an attempt to render them unusable to the Islamist rebels.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered his military to intervene in southern Syria to protect the Druze minority after clashes broke out in July between forces loyal to Syria’s new government and members of the religious sect.
Friday’s attack was part of “ongoing routine operations in the area over recent months,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Israel’s military interventions into Syria has added pressure on the new government of Al-Sharaa, who had expressed several times a desire to maintain peace with Israel as he attempts to rebuild Syria, devastated after more than a decade of civil war.
The two nations held unprecedented direct talks on several occasions over the past year to discuss security arrangements, yet no permanent agreement has been reached so far.
Al-Sharaa became the first Syrian President to visit the White House in Washington this month.
