Syria says 1 killed, 7 abducted in Israeli raid in Damascus countryside

DAMASCUS /ISTANBUL

One civilian was killed and seven others were abducted in an Israeli incursion in southwestern Syria, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

A ministry statement said Israeli tanks and armored vehicles backed by drones moved into the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside amid gunfire.

The ministry said one civilian was killed and seven others were abducted and taken into Israel.

“These repeated provocations constitute a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic," the ministry said.

Calling the Israeli raid a “flagrant breach of international laws and conventions,” the ministry warned that such actions “will not lead to stability, but will only cause further tension and unrest."

On June 4, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said that Damascus does not seek war with Israel, reiterating Syria’s call for the implementation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

Following the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel intensified its air campaign in Syria, targeting military sites, vehicles, and ammunition depots, killing dozens of civilians. It also seized control of the buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights and declared the collapse of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two sides.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in January.