Israeli bombing of Syria's Beit Jinn kills at least 14 Syrians including children

At least 14 people have been killed and 25 injured in an Israeli assault on the town of Beit Jinn in southern Syria at dawn on Friday, following clashes between residents and the Israeli military.

Six Israeli officers and soldiers were wounded in the fighting after the force attempted to kidnap local men from the area.

It is the latest in a series of Israeli aggressions in southern Syria, which has seen Israeli forces bomb towns and invade villages.

Fadi al-Asma‘i, director of the Golan Media Foundation, told The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "intense confrontations erupted between residents of the town and an Israeli infantry force that attempted to abduct a group of young men [and] Israeli army helicopters intervened and bombed the town".

Al-Asma‘i said the bombardment resulted in the deaths of "more than ten people from the town, including six from the same family".

Local sources later confirmed that the toll had risen to 14 with the number of dead and injured expected to rise as more rescuers head to the village.

He said the situation in the town "remains dire", with victims still under the rubble, Israeli drones continuing to fly overhead, and the road linking Beit Jinn and Mazraat Beit Jinn cut off. Other sources also told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Israeli forces abducted three residents before withdrawing.

The Israeli army said on Friday that two officers and a soldier were seriously wounded and three other soldiers suffered moderate to light injuries during the clashes.

In its statement, the Israeli army said the confrontation erupted after an Israeli force attempted to arrest individuals "from the Islamic State Group organisation" in Beit Jinn, claiming they had "taken part in developing offensive plans against citizens of the State of Israel".

The army announced it had arrested all wanted individuals and claimed it had killed several fighters, stating that “Israeli army forces are deployed in the area and will continue to act against any threat targeting the State of Israel and its citizens.”

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) claimed that the operation began at around 3am, when Israeli forces arrived "to arrest two brothers, activists in the Islamic Group organisation" who "were arrested by Israeli forces while in their beds and without resistance".

"As the soldiers exited the house, gunmen opened fire from a distance of 200 metres at one of the military vehicles parked near the house," KAN added.

Six reserve soldiers inside the vehicle were wounded, with Israeli forces firing and killing several armed locals and arresting two of them.

The Israeli military vehicle, a Hummer, was disabled after being shot at and became stuck at the scene, leading the air force to “target and destroy it", the broadcaster said.

Israel has provided no evidence for its claims of Islamic State group involvement. 

Israeli incursions into villages in southern Syria now take place on an almost daily basis after it illegally seized large areas inside Syrian territory and established semi-permanent positions, taking advantage of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the resulting vacuum.

About a week ago, KAN, citing unnamed Israeli sources, reported that negotiations over a proposed security agreement between Israel and Syria "have reached a dead end". It said Israeli officials reject Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s demand for a withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Syrian lands captured over the past year.

According to the same sources, Israel "will withdraw from only some of these points in exchange for a full peace agreement with Syria, not merely a security agreement", adding that "no such agreement is currently on the horizon".

The report contradicted claims that a security deal was close, following months of efforts led by US envoy Tom Barrack, including direct meetings between Syrian and Israeli negotiating delegations.