ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Israeli forces opened fire on a shepherd and his children in the Syria’s Daraa countryside, without causing any casualties, Syrian state media reported on Friday, as Israel continues its military incursions into southwestern Syria.

The Israeli force, consisting of three vehicles, opened fire on the family “to intimidate them,” forcing them to flee the area, according to state media, citing local forces. The forces remained in the area for half an hour.

The incident took place in the Wadi al-Raqqad area in the Yarmouk Basin, western countryside of Daraa province.

A similar incident was reported in southern Quneitra countryside on Thursday when a group of Israeli soldiers allegedly assaulted a local sheep herder and “ran over a number of his sheep,” killing them.

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

In his address at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa slammed continued Israeli violations on Syrian lands, saying they undermine “our peace and security.”

The Syrian leader also stressed Damascus’ claim to the Golan Heights, which has been annexed by Israel since 1967, saying it will “remain Syrian territory.”

According to Sharaa, Syria has been subject to 500 airstrikes and more than 1,200 incursions by Israeli forces since the new government came to power in late 2024, adding that the forces have also carried out around 300 arrests.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Sharaa’s remarks in his UNGA speech the following day, saying: “Mr. Sharaa, you should know the Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses. You can read it in the Bible.”

In June 1967, Israel emerged victorious in a war against Arab states, named the Six-Day War, seizing the West Bank, including East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.

Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli forces to complete the takeover of the 1974 buffer zone in the Golan Heights which separates the two states, claiming that the 1974 Disengagement Agreement was void until order was restored in Syria.