Syria condemns Israeli strike near Damascus as breach of international law
An Israeli strike hit a civilian vehicle in the village of Beit Jinn near Damascus, injuring several people. Syria called it the second such attack in a week and a violation of its sovereignty and international law.
Israel carried out a strike on the village of Beit Jinn, southwest of the Syrian capital Damascus, damaging a civilian vehicle and injuring several people, according to Syrian officials. Damascus condemned the attack, describing it as a breach of its sovereignty and international law.
It was the second known Israeli strike on Syrian territory within a week. The Israeli military said on X that it had targeted a "terrorist" who was in the final stages of preparing attacks that posed an immediate threat to its soldiers.
Earlier strike near Turkish border
The latest incident follows reports that Israel had struck a military airbase close to the Turkish border, which Syria warned risked escalating regional tensions. Washington responded to that earlier strike with an unusually direct rebuke, calling it an "unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability".
In a Friday interview, US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack suggested the strike could represent Israel attempting to draw Turkey into a conflict ahead of upcoming Israeli elections. Israel's far-right defence minister Israel Katz pushed back sharply, calling Barrack's account "full of inaccuracies" and writing on X that Israeli forces had acted on clear intelligence about Turkey's intentions.
After Tuesday's strikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and Syria had an understood status quo on security matters, which Syria had been close to breaching by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo.
