Israel raids a Syrian village and detains suspected militants; 1 person is killed

BEIT JIN, Syria (AP) — Israel’s army raided a village in southern Syria early Thursday to arrest several alleged agents of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Syrian officials said one person was killed and warned that such incursions stoke regional tensions, while villagers denied having any ties to Hamas.

The Israeli military said those detained during the pre-dawn raid on Beit Jin were suspected of planning attacks against Israel, and that weapons also were found in the area. They were taken back to Israel for questioning, the military said.

One person was killed and seven captured in the operation, Syria’s Interior Ministry said, while the father of the young man killed said he had a history of mental illness.

Since the fall of President Bashar Assad ’s government in early December, Israeli forces have moved into several areas in southern Syria and conducted hundreds of airstrikes throughout the country, destroying much of the assets of the Syrian army.

Local broadcaster Syria TV described Thursday’s raid as being carried out by about 100 Israeli troops who stormed Beit Jin, near the border with Lebanon, and called out the names of several people targeted for arrest through loudspeakers.

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Syria’s Interior Ministry said such incursions spike tensions in the region. “Such repeated provocative acts are a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement.

Village official Walid Okasha told The Associated Press that Israeli troops had entered the outskirts of Beit Jin in recent months, but that this was the first time they entered the center of the village. He added that Thursday’s operation came four days after an Israeli drone strike hit a car in the village, inflicting casualties.

“They came targeting specific people,” said Okasha, who denied that Hamas members were in the village.

He said the seven people taken to Israel were all Syrians and that two of them were members of the country’s new security forces. He said the man killed suffered from mental illness.

Ahmad Hammadi identified the victim as his son, and told the AP that he had history of schizophrenia. He said his son was shot dead in front of his home, and that he had no links to Hamas. He said two of the captured men were his nephews.

Hussein Safadi said his two sons, Ahmad, 32, and Mohammed, 34, were captured adding that his younger son, who raises goats, had lived in Lebanon for years until recently. He said his younger son was a member of the armed opposition against Assad and recently joined the security forces of the new authorities.

As for why his sons were seized by Israeli forces, “We don’t know the reasons,” Safadi said.

During a visit to France last month, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that his country is holding indirect talks with Israel to prevent hostilities from getting out of control.