13 killed, several wounded in Israeli attack on Beit Jinn town in Damascus countryside

At least 13 people, including children, have been killed and 25 were injured as Israel launched another incursion into Syrian territory in the Damascus countryside, according to state media, with several Israeli soldiers also reported wounded in clashes.

Syrian state media reported on Friday that two children were among those killed in the Israeli dawn raid and strikes, which forced dozens of families to flee from the town of Beit Jinn to nearby and safer areas.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned “the criminal attack carried out by an Israeli occupation army patrol in Beit Jinn. The occupation forces’ targeting of the town of Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling, following their failed incursion, constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” it said.

The remains of at least five Syrians, including two children, were taken to the Golan National Hospital in the city of al-Salam in Quneitra, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Israeli drones also continue to fly over the area, the report added.

The Syrian Civil Defence said their teams were unable to enter Beit Jinn to rescue the wounded as the Israeli military continues to target any movement.

Israeli military incursions have become more brazen, more frequent and more violent since Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syria following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Local sources also confirmed to Al Jazeera on Friday that several Syrians were killed and others wounded in Israeli artillery and missile strikes on Beit Jinn.

Clashes between the residents and the invading Israeli force erupted after the incursion.

The Israeli army has staged 47 raids in southern Syria in November.

Government data showed that the Israeli army has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces since December 2024.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria.

Al Jazeera