13 killed and 20 wounded in clashes and Israeli shelling on the Damascus countryside

Thirteen people were killed and twenty others were wounded, including women and children, in clashes and Israeli shelling that targeted the town of Beit Jinn in the southwestern Damascus countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Sources reported that the confrontations erupted at dawn today, Friday, between local gunmen and Israeli forces attempting to storm the town to carry out an arrest campaign, coinciding with artillery and air strikes on its outskirts. The clashes resulted in the complete collapse of a house, with severe injuries among civilians, in addition to missing persons under the rubble and others detained by the Israeli army.

Israel announced that six of its personnel were injured during the operation. Israeli forces later allowed ambulance and rescue teams affiliated with the transitional government to enter the town to evacuate the wounded and recover the victims, after conducting thorough inspections of the ambulances.

According to the Observatory, the clashes began after an Israeli patrol was fired upon at a distance of about 200 meters, following the detention of several young men from the town, which led to an escalation of the confrontation. The Observatory noted that the operation represents an unprecedented escalation southwest of Damascus, with intensive warplane overflights above the area, while the town’s youth continue to resist the incursion.