Syria rules out military response after Israel's deadly Beit Jinn attack

Syria condemned Israel's deadly attack on the town of Beit Jinn, with its envoy to the UN saying Damascus would not resort to a military response despite rising tensions, according to comments carried by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Friday.

Syria's permanent representative to the UN, Ibrahim Olabi, denounced the strike and said "the military response to Israel's provocations is not currently on the table", arguing that Damascus is seeking to preserve "important gains" it believes it has made in its international relations.

He told SANA that Syria would respond to Israel "through internationally recognised means".

According to SANA, residents of Beit Jinn confronted an Israeli patrol at dawn on Friday after it infiltrated the town to arrest three people whom Israel said were members of what it calls "the Islamic Group organisation".

Six Israeli soldiers, including three officers, were wounded in the ensuing clashes. Israel later launched airstrikes that killed 13 people, "including women and children",  and injured around 25 others, the Syrian Ministry of Health said.

Aloubi said Syria "will not be dragged into the occupation’s provocations, but will respond through internationally recognised means", without providing details.

He added that he had contacted several Security Council members regarding the attack. He said non-military and diplomatic pressure applied by Syria in recent months had “achieved important gains” in its international relationships, arguing that a direct military response against Israel "is not an option at present, in order to preserve these gains".

He said Syria is continuing to work "on the ground and in international forums" to demonstrate its adherence to the 1974 disengagement agreement and relevant Security Council resolutions, adding that this commitment "troubles Israel more than the idea of a direct military response".

 Since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights. 

It has exploited the collapse of the Assad regime in late 2024 to take over the buffer zone, declaring the disengagement agreement to have collapsed.

Aloubi said the Beit Jinn attack "will be officially recorded in United Nations documents", and that Syria is working "to isolate the occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes and repeated attacks".

He said Damascus is "doing everything it can at the diplomatic level to isolate Israel internationally and limit the support its allies provide for it", adding that Israel’s envoy Danny Danon heard during the latest Security Council session from "15 members" who condemned the attacks and affirmed the need to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial unity.

Aloubi said efforts were underway to renew the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights to help maintain stability. He said Syria’s cooperation with allies aims to deny Israel "any legal, political or military pretext", which he argued was producing "tangible gains on the ground" and increasing Israel’s isolation.

He said Syria is now "speaking from a position of strength" as a result of political, economic and military progress.

Addressing reports of negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv, Aloubi told SANA that current discussions are limited to "a security agreement", saying that the broader peace process remains "a long-term matter" due to Israel’s continued occupation of Syrian territory.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack on Friday, calling it "a full-fledged war crime".

It urged the UN Security Council, the United Nations and the Arab League to "act urgently to put an end to the occupation’s attacks" and to adopt "deterrent measures" to ensure respect for Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation also condemned the attack in a statement published on X on Saturday.

The organisation said it "strongly denounces" Israel’s repeated violations inside Syrian territory, arguing that such attacks undermine regional de-escalation efforts and obstruct attempts to consolidate security and stability.

It held Israeli forces "fully responsible" for the continuation of the attacks and called on the international community to implement relevant international decisions and guarantee respect for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial unity.