More than ten civilians, including women and children, were killed and 11 others injured when the Israeli army bombed the town of Beit Jinn (in the Damascus countryside near Mount Hermon in southern Syria) at dawn on Friday, 28 November.
The town is currently witnessing a wave of displacement to neighboring villages, amid intensive flights by Israeli drones over Beit Jinn. Some of the wounded remain trapped under the rubble caused by the bombardment, according to activist Fahd Mohammad, who spoke to Enab Baladi.
According to the activist, the shelling came after Israeli forces pushed into the town to arrest a number of young men, which led to clashes between local young men from Beit Jinn and the Israeli army, which announced that six of its soldiers had been wounded.
According to information obtained by Enab Baladi, the Israeli army arrested three young men in the town.
The Syrian government had not commented on the events in Beit Jinn at the time this report was published.
Syrian Civil Defense teams and two ambulances from the Damascus countryside Health Directorate entered Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside to evacuate the bodies and treat the wounded as a result of the Israeli bombardment, according to the official state news agency SANA, after waiting for a long time at the edge of the town.
Earlier on Friday, 28 November, the Syrian Civil Defense said in a statement that its ambulance and rescue teams had been unable to enter Beit Jinn to treat those wounded in the “Israeli aggression” on the town, to secure the area, and to carry out clearance operations for fear of dangerous remnants of war.
The Civil Defense noted that this was happening as “the Israeli occupation continues to target any movement at the entrances to the town, which hinders the arrival of humanitarian teams and threatens the lives of civilians.”
The Times of Israel reported that the wounded in the ranks of the Israeli army included two officers and a reservist who sustained serious injuries, another reservist who was moderately injured, and two reservists who were lightly wounded.
In a statement, the Israeli army said that troops from the 55th Reserve Brigade had been carrying out an arrest operation targeting several people it described as “suspects from the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya organization,” who are active in the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria.
The army claimed in its statement that the suspects were promoting “terror plots against Israeli citizens.”
Previous incursions
An Israeli force consisting of dozens of personnel had previously pushed into the town of Beit Jinn on 25 August.
At the time, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the military incursion carried out by Israeli forces in the Beit Jinn area in the Damascus countryside.
The Israeli force opened fire in the direction of residents, without causing casualties, amid a state of tension in the area.
An official at the Damascus countryside governorate told Enab Baladi that Israeli forces had carried out a new military incursion in the Mount Hermon area.
The governorate revealed that a “hostile” force of around 100 troops had infiltrated the outskirts of Beit Jinn and Mazraat Beit Jinn, specifically in the Bat al-Warda area overlooking the town.
According to the governorate, the Israeli army claimed that the incursion was carried out under the pretext of searching for “saboteurs,” but “in reality it was a direct targeting of civilians’ security and safety.”
Regarding the gunfire directed at residents, the governorate explained that locals had turned out peacefully to demand that the incursion force withdraw, and were met with direct live fire in what it described as a blatant assault amounting to a “crime” against peaceful residents.
Israeli forces had also pushed in on 27 June into the outskirts of Beit Jinn, where they set up a checkpoint before later withdrawing.