Syria: Israeli strikes hit Beit Jinn as incursions expand in Quneitra

The Israeli air force carried out several strikes on Wednesday evening on the outskirts of Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside, according to local sources, in the latest escalation in southern Syria.

Local sources told The New Arab's Arabic edition that an Israeli drone had launched three strikes on a water tank and a road on the southern side of Tall Bat al-Warde, which borders Beit Jinn overlooking Mount Hermon.

Sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the bombing had put the tank out of service and damaged the road, with no reported human casualties.

The sources said that an Israeli patrol had advanced on Wednesday from the Adnaniyya point toward villages in the southern Quneitra countryside.

The patrol took up positions in the village of Umm Adham at the junction leading to the villages of al-Mushayrifa, al-Saayida and Ruwayhina, where it set up a temporary checkpoint.

Another patrol composed of three military vehicles also advanced toward Ruwayhina. This development followed an Israeli incursion a day earlier into the village of Eastern al-Samdaniyya in northern Quneitra countryside.

On 28 November, 13 people were killed and 24 others injured during an Israeli incursion into the town of Beit Jinn in western Rif Dimashq.

The operation was met with what Syrian sources described as popular resistance from local residents, leading to a high number of casualties in addition to injuries among Israeli forces.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in late 2024 and the emergence of the new Syrian government, Israel has intensified its military campaign across the south, carrying out repeated airstrikes, cross-border raids and ground incursions.

The new authorities in Damascus have accused Israel of exploiting the transitional period and the weakened condition of state institutions to expand its operations deeper into Syrian territory.

These developments come within a series of repeated instances of Israeli interference and assaults in the southern region of Syria, as the Israeli army has intensified its air and ground operations around Quneitra and western Rif Dimashq on the pretext of preventing the positioning of armed groups it claims pose a threat.

Israel has yet to provide any evidence of such threats.