Damascus (AFP) - Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, the deadliest since Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power nearly a year ago, which they said was targeting an Islamist group.

Since an Islamist coalition overthrew longtime ruler Assad in December of last year, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria’s military arsenal as well as incursions into the country.

The Israeli army said an exchange of fire in the operation to detain militants in the Syrian village of Beit Jin left six Israeli soldiers wounded, with three of them in a serious condition.

The official SANA news agency, quoting the Syrian health ministry, reported 13 dead and 24 more wounded in the Israeli operation.

The Syrian foreign ministry condemned the operation as a “war crime” and accused Israel of wanting to “ignite the region”.

An AFP journalist saw several wounded people being taken to a hospital in Damascus, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the village.

“We were asleep when we were woken up at three in the morning by gunfire,” wounded resident Iyad Taher told AFP at al-Mouwassat hospital in the Syrian capital.

“We went outside to see what was happening and saw the Israeli army in the village, soldiers and tanks. Then they withdrew, the air force came, and the shells started falling. I was hit by shrapnel in the neck.”

The Israeli army said the targets of the operation were fighters from the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which is based in neighbouring Lebanon and allied with Palestinian armed group Hamas.

“The suspects operated in the area of Beit Jin in southern Syria and advanced terror attacks against Israeli civilians,” it said in a statement.

A local official told AFP that Israeli forces raided the village to capture three men, sparking clashes.

“Following the clashes, the Israeli occupation forces shelled the area with artillery and drones,” village official Abdul Rahman al-Hamrawi said.

At the hospital, Ahmad Kamal told AFP he and others “opened fire on the Israeli patrol to defend ourselves and stop them from taking us. My brother was killed, and I was wounded”.

- ‘Territorial integrity’ -

United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi condemned Israel’s attack, calling it “a grave and unacceptable violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, said Friday’s operation was “the deadliest incursion since Israel began conducting operations outside the buffer zone in southern Syria”.

Israel sent troops into and beyond the UN-patrolled buffer zone, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974, in the immediate aftermath of Assad’s fall.

In June, Syria accused Israel of “abducting seven people” from Beit Jin and killing one civilian “as a result of direct gunfire on the residents”.

Israel accused the people of being Hamas members.

Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights, a strategic mountain plateau, since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.

Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops deployed in the buffer zone, drawing a sharp rebuke from Damascus and others in the region.

The premier has previously insisted that southern Syria be demilitarised following Assad’s overthrow.

Israel’s key backer the United States has been pushing for a security pact between Syria and Israel, part of President Donald Trump’s goal to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire with a broader Middle East peace settlement.

While Syrian and Israeli officials have held repeated rounds of talks, President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ruled out Syria joining the Abraham Accords, under which a handful of Arab countries have normalised ties with Israel.

He recently met with Trump and warned in a UN speech that Israel’s persistent attacks put the region at risk, but backed diplomacy.

“In the face of this aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue,” he said.

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