DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Syria’s foreign ministry on Friday strongly condemned an Israeli cross-border incursion into the southern town of Beit Jinn as a “full-fledged war crime,” accusing Israeli forces of causing extensive damage in a raid that killed at least 13 people. 

The Israeli cross-border operation in Rif Dimashq province was the deadliest in Syrian territory since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. At least 13 people were killed and 24 injured in the clashes, which forced Israeli troops to withdraw due to local resistance.

“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the criminal attack carried out by a patrol of the Israeli occupation army,” the foreign minister said in a statement, stressing that it “constitutes a full-fledged war crime.”

The ministry said Israeli forces bombed the area “in a deliberate and brutal manner” after failing to advance, forcing large numbers of families to flee as shelling continued on residential homes. It held Israel fully responsible for the casualties and destruction, warning that repeated attacks threaten regional stability. 

The Israeli military said that it carried out a cross-border campaign against Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanon-based Hamas ally, which resulted in “several armed terrorists” opening fire at the officers and troops who embarked on the operation.

“As a result of the incident, two reserve officers and a reservist were severely injured, a reservist was moderately injured, and a reserve officer and a reservist were lightly injured,” the Israeli military said, adding that “all of the suspects were apprehended and a number of terrorists were eliminated.” 

Jamaa Islamiya is a Sunni Islamist political group in Lebanon. Founded in 1964, it is seen as a fierce Hamas ally, and the two militant groups have carried out joint operations.

Damascus further called on the UN Security Council and the Arab League to intervene and address Israel’s “ongoing violations” against Syria. 

Israel has repeatedly launched attacks against Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, nominally to destroy weapons caches and protect the minority Druze community that has been the target of sectarian massacres at the hands of Damascus-affiliated armed forces.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz in December ordered the Israeli forces to complete the takeover of the 1974 buffer zone in the Golan Heights, separating the two states. 

The buffer zone was established by the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two countries, which was signed following a battle to establish a ceasefire and limit military mobilization on both sides. Israel claims that, with the fall of the Assad regime, the agreement is considered void until the restoration of order in Syria.