Khaberni - In an unprecedented escalation, 13 Syrians were killed in Israeli artillery and missile shelling targeting Beit Jin in the countryside of Damascus early on Friday morning after the town's residents surrounded Israeli soldiers who had infiltrated to carry out an arrest operation, resulting in 6 Israeli officers and soldiers being injured.
The Israeli military said that the attack carried out in Syrian territory comes as part of the "Bashan Arrow" operation launched after the fall of the regime of the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8th, targeting military sites across the country, and taking control of strategic locations including Mount Hermon, as well as controlling the buffer zone.
Despite several arrest operations against those claimed to be "wanted" in adjacent areas infiltrated by Israel in Syria, amid popular attempts to repel them, the Beit Jin operation is the first to result in numerous injuries among the occupation soldiers, considered by Israel to be "exceptional".
1- What are the details of what happened?
The occupying army confirmed the injury of 6 soldiers and reserve officers in an exchange of fire with those it described as "Syrian militants", after a force from the 55th Paratrooper Brigade, led by Division 210, infiltrated to arrest 3 individuals from the Islamic group.
It added that its forces captured the three, and while the force was about to withdraw from the village, "militants opened fire on them" from about 200 meters away, leading to an exchange of fire and the use of fighter jets, tanks, and drones to attack several locations in the town.
The Israeli military continued that "the militants attacked a Hummer vehicle belonging to the Israeli forces, resulting in injuries to the soldiers in it, its breakdown, and subsequent bombing."
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the Israeli military withdrew to the outskirts of the Syrian town of Beit Jin two hours after the clashes, and transported the injured by helicopters to Israeli hospitals.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper mentioned that the Israeli force that infiltrated into Beit Jin was besieged, necessitating bombing to free it.
2- What is the goal of the Israeli operation?
The Israeli Army Radio reported, quoting security officials, that the army had been preparing for the Beit Jin operation for a month under the claim that it contains "extensive terrorist infrastructure".
The Israeli military claimed that the three individuals targeted for arrest belong to the Islamic group, alleging that they "promoted narratives against Israel and planned to target Israelis, with one of them previously firing a rocket and planting explosives".
The occupying army did not disclose the identities of those it abducted, but said it "arrested them from their beds", while information provided by the Israeli press indicated that two of them were brothers.
The Islamic group is an organization active in Lebanon, and Israel had targeted a number of its leaders during its recent war in Lebanon.
3- Who clashed with the occupying soldiers?
Accordingly, the Syrian news confirmed that the residents of the town of Beit Jin confronted the occupying forces, clashing with them during their operation last night, before the Israeli military launched raids on the town that resulted in the death of 13 Syrians, including 5 from one family, and injuring 25 others in an initial toll.
The village elder, Abdel Rahman Hamrawi, told the French Press Agency that the Israeli occupation forces penetrated into Beit Jin to arrest 3 young men from its inhabitants, leading to clashes with the residents who tried to repel the incursion.
Following that, the Israeli occupying forces bombed the village via drones and with artillery, according to Hamrawi.
The Syrian news also confirmed the displacement of dozens of families from the town of Beit Jin to nearby and safer areas due to tensions in the area.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli shelling resulted in extensive damage to homes and commercial premises in the town.
4- How did Syria respond?
In turn, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned "the criminal Israeli aggression in the town of Beit Jin that resulted in clashes as a result of the residents' resistance."
It indicated that the occupation forces, due to their failure to infiltrate, resorted to targeting the town of Beit Jin with brutal shelling that led to the commission of a horrific massacre that claimed the lives of children and women, according to its description.
The occupying Israeli forces were held responsible for the serious aggression, confirming that the continuation of the aggressions threatens the security of the region.
The Syrian government previously requested the international community to intervene to stop the ongoing Israeli violations since the fall of the Assad regime about a year ago.
Syrian forces also try not to engage with the Israeli forces infiltrated into the border areas to avoid giving excuses for a significant military escalation, while the country tries to regain its strength after 14 years of devastating war, according to analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera.
The analysts said that the Syrian government is working on concluding a security agreement through mediators with Israel to withdraw from the areas it infiltrated and declared control over in the past few months, considering that it faces "tough choices" but resorts to "smart diplomacy" to prevent "explosion" in the midst of the critical conditions experienced by the region.
However, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier that the talks about signing a security agreement between Israel and Syria "reached a deadlock", and added that Israeli officials reject the demand of the Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shar'a to withdraw from all Syrian points occupied by the Israeli military about a year ago.
5- Why Beit Jin?
Beit Jin is located at the eastern flank of Mount Hermon in an area with complex terrain near the border with the occupied Syrian Golan, and is considered to be of great strategic importance to Israel, which claims that arms smuggling routes in the area are located near the town.
The incident carried out by the occupying army in Beit Jin in the early hours of Friday was not the first of its kind, as on June 12th last year, Israeli forces conducted a nighttime raid on the town, resulting in the death of a civilian and the arrest of 7 people.
On August 11th last year, a force of about 100 soldiers infiltrated into Beit Jin and its surroundings.
The Israeli infiltrations come within a broader context of violations in several areas, including the arrest of Syrians from Quneitra in southern Syria, and preventing residents from accessing their lands.
According to unofficial estimates, the Israeli military kidnapped about 45 people from Syria during its incursions last year, and their fate is still unknown.
