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The military is considering an expanded operation in southern Syria if it finds that Syrian government forces were involved in gunfire at soldiers during an arrest operation in Syria’s south early Friday morning, Channel 13 said in an unsourced report.
According to the network, the Israel Defense Forces could transition to conducting fewer arrest operations against terror operatives active near the border and instead increase airstrikes to eliminate targets.
Kan news reported that Israel has identified that some of those planning attacks against IDF soldiers and the Druze community in southern Syria work for the Syrian government’s intelligence forces. It was unclear from the report to what degree they are involved with the government and whether their actions against Israel are known to Syrian authorities.
The IDF said troops came under fire early Friday morning in the Syrian village of Beit Jinn, some seven kilometers (4.3 miles) east of the border, after they detained two members of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) terror organization, acting on intelligence information collected in recent weeks indicating that the two brothers were planning attacks on Israel.
The military said the troops returned fire, and the Israeli Air Force also provided support with strikes from helicopters and drones. Fighter jets also conducted several strikes on predetermined targets, the IDF said.
Six Israeli soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously.
According to Syrian media, at least 13 people were killed by the Israeli strikes. The military said that it had killed several gunmen in the fighting, without specifying a number.
Additionally, during the clash, a Syrian suspect who ran toward the Israeli forces was detained.
The operation came as Israel is reportedly preparing for the possibility of attacks from Syria, either from Syrian troops or terror operatives.
Syria condemned the operation as a “war crime.”
“Syria denounces… the criminal aggression” of the IDF, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that such acts aim to “ignite the region” in conflict.
The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria for nearly a year, since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024. They are mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.
Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”
Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya is a Sunni faction that forms part of the broader Muslim Brotherhood political network.
The armed wing of the group, the al-Fajr Forces, established in the 1980s, repeatedly targeted Israel from Lebanon amid the war last year with Hezbollah, often working in conjunction with the Shiite Lebanese terror group.
Amid the war, the IDF said it struck members of the group as well as its infrastructure in both Lebanon and Syria.
The IDF said the group also closely cooperates with Hamas in both Lebanon and Syria, and maintains military sites in southern Lebanon and infrastructure along the Syria-Lebanon border and in the Beit Jinn area.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
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