DAMASCUS, Syria — 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 residents said. Syria’s foreign ministry called the attack “a horrific massacre,” saying women and children were among the dead.
State news agency SANA reported Israeli troops entered Beit Jin intending to detain local men, and opened heavy fire when villagers protested. Dozens of families fled the area.
Israel said the operation was based on intelligence to apprehend suspects linked to Jamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group) in Beit Jin who planned 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. Israeli forces returned fire and used aerial support, the military said, adding the operation concluded with the suspects apprehended and a number of militants killed.
A local official, Walid Okasha, told The Associated Press those killed were civilians, and that one had celebrated his wedding the day before. “The situation is miserable,” he said.
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 in Syria warily. Israeli forces have seized a former U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria 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 lack diplomatic ties, have been negotiating a possible security agreement to reduce tensions.
Syrian officials condemned the incursions as violations of sovereignty and called on the international community to act urgently to halt them.
In a prior raid on Beit Jin in June, Israeli forces captured several people they said were Hamas members — a claim residents disputed — and killed a man whose family said had a history of schizophrenia.
The violence in Syria adds to regional tensions and risks undermining the fragile truce in Gaza. The deaths followed Israeli airstrikes in parts of southern Lebanon on Thursday; Israel says those strikes aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding after last year’s destructive 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.