Forces of the 55th Brigade “Spearhead”, under the command of the 210th Division of the Israeli Army, completed an operation this Friday to arrest three terrorists associated with the Jamaa al Islamiya organization in southern Syria.
“During the operation, the forces engaged the terrorists in direct combat. Three fighters were seriously wounded and three others sustained various injuries,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a brief statement.
“The forces completed the operation in the area. Several terrorists were killed and suspects arrested,” they concluded without specifying numbers.
For his part, the Director General of Health in the Rif Damascus province, Tawfiq Hasaba, told the official Syrian news agency SANA that 13 people died in the operations.
The source did not specify the exact manner in which each of the victims of Beit Jinn perished, which was bombed by the Jewish state after the attackers were surrounded and where clashes also broke out with residents, according to state television Al Ijbariya.
The civil defense group known as the White Helmets, now integrated into Syrian government institutions, said its teams were unable to access the town until 10:00 local time (7:00 GMT) because Israeli troops were attacking any"movement" at the town's entrances.
“The teams worked to ensure that no injured person remained unrescued and to carry out a non-technical inspection, for fear that dangerous war remnants might be present that could harm residents,” the rescuers explained on their X account.
According to the Israeli Army's version, their operation was aimed at finding members of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa al Islamiya allegedly based on the outskirts of the Syrian capital and, in fact, during the raid alleged members of that group were arrested.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime a year ago, Israel sent troops to the demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights and the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, where it still maintains positions it considers essential for its security and for the"defense" of the Syrian Druze minority.
The Jewish state occasionally bombs Syrian territory, as it did repeatedly this summer when it decided to intervene on behalf of the Druze during internal clashes in southern Syria.
However, in recent months there have been mostly land incursions in the border provinces and, sometimes, as far north as the outskirts of Damascus.
