ReutersAt least 13 people were killed overnight in an Israeli raid on a village in southern Syria, state media reported, in one of the deadliest such incidents in months. Children were among the dead.
The Sana news agency said residents of Beit Jinn “clashed” with Israeli troops, leading to an exchange of fire. Airstrikes were also carried out. The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a “war crime” committed by Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops entered the village, on the edge of the occupied Golan Heights, to arrest militants who it said had “launched terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.”
Six Israeli soldiers were injured in the clashes, three of them seriously, according to the statement.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Jamaa Islamiya militant group in Friday’s operation. At the start of the raid, “several armed terrorists opened fire” on his soldiers, who returned fire.
Sana said the village was also bombed. Footage released by the IDF shows two airstrikes – one apparently against a group of people and the other against a building. In body camera footage also released by the IDF, soldiers can be seen firing on a street in the dark with the sound of automatic fire in the distance.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, said a building collapsed during the operation.
The Israeli military later said that “all suspects had been apprehended and a number of terrorists had been eliminated.”
Sana said three people were arrested by troops before their withdrawal.
ReutersSana cited the director of a local hospital as saying he had received bodies, including five belonging to the same family. The director said dozens of people were also injured in the incident.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said more than 10 civilians were killed, including women and children. He accuses Israel of committing a “real war crime” and calls on the UN Security Council to do something to end Israel’s “policy of aggression.”
Israel regularly carries out incursions into Syrian villages, claiming to act to prevent the presence of armed groups.
Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad almost a year ago, Israel has moved its forces through a buffer zone in the Golan Heights into southern Syria, where a number of anti-Israeli groups and cells operate.
Israel says it will not allow the Syrian army, which it considers a threat, to deploy there.
The buffer zone – a stretch of demilitarized land – was a no-go zone designed to maintain peace after a ceasefire ended the 1973 war between Israel and Syria. The UN said the deployment of the Israeli army there was a “violation” of the agreement it said both sides must respect.
The United States has mediated for months between Israel and Syria to reach a security agreement in the region between the two sides, but without success.
