On Sunday, June 8, Israeli warplanes conducted an air strike on a Hamas-affiliated target in the Beit Jinn farm area of southern Syria, near the occupied Golan Heights.
In a brief statement, the Israeli military spokesman said, “IDF aircraft carried out an air strike targeting a Hamas member in the aforementioned area,” without specifying the extent of casualties or damage.
Beit Jinn Farm is a small agricultural village located southwest of Damascus, within the Damascus Countryside Governorate, approximately 50 kilometres from the capital. It is bordered to the south by the village of Harfa, with the foothills of Mount Hermon to the north.
The strike came amid escalating tensions between the two sides, just days after two “Grad” missiles were launched from Syria’s Daraa Governorate toward the occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli sources.
It was the first time the “Muhammad al-Deif Brigades” claimed responsibility for missile attacks on Israeli targets in the Golan, stating they had carried out bombing operations against Israeli positions.
Read more: Turkish Drone Strike Killed 10 Members of One Family in Syria – HRW
In response, the Israeli army launched a series of air raids on military sites linked to the Syrian regime in the south of the country, holding the transitional government and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable for the escalation.
The newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that two missiles launched from Syrian territory landed in an open area near the southern Golan, triggering sirens in the Hispin and Ramat Magshimim areas.
In a related development, an Israeli security source told Al-Hadath TV last Thursday that Tel Aviv had initiated coordination with the Syrian transitional government to secure the buffer zone along the shared border. The source stressed that the Israeli government does not currently anticipate a major escalation in southern Syria and that security cooperation with the transitional administration is progressing smoothly.
The source added that Israel is working with the Syrian transitional government to deploy Syrian security forces in villages near the buffer zone to maintain stability, while simultaneously ruling out any role by the transitional administration in the recent missile launches.
According to the source, Iran and its allied factions, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are actively seeking to destabilise southern Syria.
Last Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yisrael Katz stated that the head of Syria’s transitional administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, bears full responsibility for any threat directed at Israel. He emphasised that Israel would respond swiftly to any attacks on its territory.
Katz added that Israel “will not allow a return to the reality of October 7,” referencing the military escalation between Israel and Palestinian factions, as reported by Yedioth Ahronoth.
These developments coincided with a series of Israeli air strikes carried out at dawn last Wednesday, targeting military sites in the Damascus, Daraa, and Quneitra countryside regions in southwestern Syria.
The Syrian state-affiliated “Alekhbaria” news channel reported that the strikes hit military locations in the Saasa and Kanaker areas of the southwestern Damascus countryside, the vicinity of Izraa in northern Daraa, and the Tal al-Shaar area in Quneitra. There were no confirmed reports regarding casualties or material damage.
