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Drone hits Beit Jinn
Syrian state television said an "Israeli occupation drone" struck a vehicle in the town of Beit Jinn, located southwest of the capital Damascus and near the Golan Heights, and it reported that a man was wounded.
“"Israeli occupation drone" struck a vehicle in the town of Beit Jinn”
Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a communiqué that "This attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Arab Republic of Syria and of the integrity of its territory".
The Israeli army said its forces "fired in southern Syria at a terrorist who was carrying out terrorist attacks in the final stages of preparation" and added that he posed an "imminent threat" to soldiers.
Al Jazeera reported that Syria’s foreign ministry said the strike injured several people, and it cited Alikhbariya as reporting that an Israeli drone hit a truck near Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside.
Al Jazeera also reported that the Israeli military confirmed the strike and said it targeted “a terrorist who advanced terror attacks in their final stages of preparation,” adding that the activity posed an “immediate threat to our forces.”
U.S.-Israel dispute
Akhbar ḥayā described a rare clash between allies after Washington issued a warning to Tel Aviv following its bombing of a Syrian airport on the border with Turkey and even described the incident as a “dangerous game,” a characterization Israelis could not tolerate.
In a podcast with Mario Noval on YouTube, Tom Barks said, “If you recall, the Turks shot down a Russian plane under similar circumstances… It’s a dangerous game, pushing aircraft toward the border without notice and without an agreement,” according to Bloomberg News.
The same account said Barks raised the possibility Israel was harassing Turkey with the August 18 attacks in northern Syria and added that the strike might be a step to drag Turkey into a conflict before Israel’s general elections on October 27.
Akhbar ḥayā also said Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz condemned Barks’s statements on X, writing that Israel had provided intelligence to the U.S. authorities before the strike and that Barks’s statements were full of misrepresentations and positions that contradicted Donald Trump’s stance on the Golan Heights.
Separately, AP reported that Tom Barrack said Israel did not warn the United States before it struck an air base in northern Syria this week, while Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz contradicted him by saying Israel decided to alert senior members of the Syrian government and “Simultaneously, we transferred the intelligence reports to the relevant authorities in the U.S.”
Golan, buffer zone, next moves
Acento | Other said that following the December 2024 ouster of Bashar al-Assad, Israel deployed troops to the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
“"avoidable escalation"”
Acento | Other added that Israel carried out attacks and repeated incursions in southern Syria, where it seeks to expand the demilitarized zone, and it said Tom Barrack denounced an "avoidable escalation" after Syria and the United States said Israel bombed an unused military air base in northwest Syria.
AP reported that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Abu Duhur base was attacked because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there, while Barrack said it was likely Israel had intelligence suggesting Turkey may be bolstering its presence.
AP also said Barrack warned that “The unintended consequence of a mistake could be really consequential,” as it described how close Israel and Turkey came to direct confrontation and noted that the U.S. concluded Turkish activity at the air base was “not happening.”
Akhbar ḥayā said Syria and the United States said Israel bombed the al-Bukhaizair (Abu al-Dhuhour) military base near the Turkish border, and it reported that Barks said the Syrian Golan Heights remain occupied by Israel and that Syria condemned the airstrike as a “flagrant violation of sovereignty.”