Israeli raid on Beit Jinn kills at least 13, including children

Summary

At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli operation in the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria overnight, state media reported, with children among the dead. Syrian state news agency SANA said residents "confronted" Israeli troops and a firefight ensued, and that the village was also shelled. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its forces entered the area on the edge of the occupied Golan Heights to detain militants they blamed for attacks on Israeli civilians, naming the Jamaa Islamiya group; the IDF said suspects were apprehended, a number of militants were killed, and six Israeli soldiers were wounded, three seriously. Footage released by the IDF showed air strikes and bodycam video of troops firing during the operation, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a building collapse and hospitals reported dozens of wounded and multiple bodies from single families.

Syria's foreign ministry condemned the raid as a "war crime" and urged the UN Security Council to act. The incident underscores ongoing tensions along the Golan buffer zone, where Israel has increased deployments into southern Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad nearly a year ago to counter anti-Israel groups — a move the UN has described as a violation of the ceasefire arrangements. The US has been mediating talks between Israel and Syria on security arrangements in the area, but those efforts have not produced an agreement. as reported by BBC

This story has also been reported by: The Guardian