ISTANBUL
Syria’s foreign minister called on Friday for the UN and Arab and Islamic nations to take action against Israel’s repeated attacks on its territory, condemning its strike on the town of Beit Jinn near Damascus as a deliberate assault on civilians.
On US social media company X, Asaad al-Shaibani slammed the “treacherous Israeli assault” on Beit Jinn, saying the attack “deliberately targeted innocent civilians” and warning that the continuation of such aggression threatens regional peace and security.
He said the continued strikes require “a firm international response,” adding that silence from the international community “only emboldens the aggressor to commit further crimes against civilians.”
The top Syrian diplomat called on the UN, the Security Council, and all Arab and Islamic nations to “shoulder their responsibilities” and confront the repeated Israeli attacks.
At least 13 people were killed, including women and children, and 24 were wounded early Friday in Israel’s attack on Beit Jinn and the road leading to it, in rural areas around the capital Damascus, according to official Syrian media.
The Israeli army said in a statement that six Israeli soldiers were injured, including three in critical condition, during the attack.
It claimed that it had detained members of “the Jaama Islamiya,” alleging that they “operated in the area of Beit Jinn in southern Syria and advanced attacks against Israeli civilians.”
The Israeli army staged 47 raids in southern Syria in November.
Government data shows that since December 2024, Israel has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces.
After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement with Syria.