Overnight Israeli raid in southern Syria village kills one person

The Israeli military said its operation was aimed at arresting ‘several’ alleged Hamas members who were plotting attacks on the country.

At least one person has been killed during an overnight Israeli raid in the southwestern Syrian town of Beit Jinn.

In a statement on Thursday, Syria’s Ministry of Interior said the repeated “provocations” from the Israeli army were a “blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic”.

“These practices cannot lead the region to stability and will only result in further tension and turmoil,” the ministry said.

It added that seven people were abducted, and Israeli soldiers fired directly at villagers, killing one person.

According to media Arabic, the family of the person killed said he had been suffering from a mental disability and was shot when he tried to intervene and stop Israeli forces.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called on the international community to “take decisive steps to stop these recurring attacks”.

Earlier, the Israeli army said that its soldiers from the Alexandroni Brigade had carried out an overnight operation to arrest “several” alleged Hamas members.

According to the army, those arrested were planning “multiple terror plots” against Israel and its troops in Syria and confiscated weapons and ammunition.

Israel has dramatically escalated its attacks in Syria since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in December, illegally occupying more territory in southern Syria and carrying out a series of strikes in the country.

Israel reduced its attacks after the United States lifted sanctions on Syria in mid-May, and US President Donald Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

But Israeli attacks have increased in recent days, after Israel claimed last week that two rockets had been launched from Syria towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel illegally seized the southern Golan Heights in 1967 and later annexed it in 1981, in a move unrecognised by the United Nations.

But the two projectiles, which fell into an open area, according to the Israeli military, led to Israeli strikes on Syria.

Earlier in June, the new United States special envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, proposed a “non-aggression agreement” as a bridging starting point to begin talks between the two rivals.

Moreover, according to a report by the Axios news agency on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Barrack that he is interested in negotiating with the new Syrian government on an updated security deal.