Israeli forces raided the village of Beit Jin in southern Syria on Friday, and opened fire after residents confronted them, killing at least 10 people, Syrian officials and local residents said. Syria’s foreign ministry called the operation “a horrific massacre,” and said women and children were among the dead.
State news agency SANA reported Israeli troops entered Beit Jin with the aim of detaining local men and opened heavy fire when villagers protested. Dozens of families fled the area, residents said.
Israel said the operation was carried out on intelligence that suspects linked to Jamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group) in Beit Jin were planning attacks on Israeli civilians. The military said several militants fired on troops during the raid, wounding about half a dozen soldiers who were evacuated to a hospital. According to the Israeli account, forces returned fire and used aerial support; the military said the suspects were apprehended and a number of militants were killed.
A local official, Walid Okasha, told The Associated Press that those killed were civilians, and that one of the dead had celebrated his wedding the day before. “The situation is miserable,” he said.
The raid comes against a backdrop of broader instability in Syria. Since the collapse of President Bashar Assad’s government in a rapid offensive by Islamist insurgents in December 2024, Israel has viewed the new authorities warily. Israeli forces have seized a former U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria that was established under a 1974 disengagement agreement, carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military sites, and pushed for a demilitarized area south of Damascus. The two countries, which do not have diplomatic ties, have been negotiating a possible security arrangement to reduce tensions.
Syrian officials condemned the incursions as violations of sovereignty and called on the international community to take urgent action to halt them.
In a prior raid on Beit Jin in June, Israeli forces captured several people they said were Hamas members, a claim disputed by residents, and killed a man whose family said had a history of schizophrenia.
The violence in Syria is adding to regional tensions and risks undermining the fragile truce in Gaza. The deaths in Beit Jin followed Israeli airstrikes in parts of southern Lebanon on Thursday; Israel says those strikes aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding after last year’s war. The U.N. said Tuesday that Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire a year ago have killed at least 127 civilians, including children. Tensions escalated earlier this week after a rare strike in Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah official whom Israel described as the group’s chief of staff.