Three people were wounded Tuesday during an Israeli incursion into southern Syria, state media reported, as Israel’s army said soldiers had fired on suspects who “posed a threat”.
The violence came after Israeli forces late last month killed at least 13 people in an operation in southern Syria that Israel’s military said targeted an Islamist group and left six Israeli soldiers wounded.
Israel has carried out repeated incursions into Syrian territory since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago, as well as carrying out bombings, and has said it wants a demilitarised zone in the country’s south.
Syrian state television said “three people were wounded by Israeli occupation forces’ gunfire in the town of Khan Arnabah in Quneitra province”.
It said Israeli forces had used several military vehicles and troop carriers, and had also launched smoke grenades.
State news agency SANA said Israeli forces set up a checkpoint near Khan Arnabah “and are shooting at civilians”.
It published images appearing to show Israeli military vehicles and troops on a road as civilian vehicles passed.
The Israeli army said in a statement that during its “activity in the Quneitra area of southern Syria, a confrontation developed when several suspects approached the troops and posed a threat to them”.
Soldiers “fired warning shots into the air, and after the suspects failed to distance themselves, the troops responded and fired toward the lower bodies of two main inciters,” the statement said.
As Islamist forces toppled Assad late last year, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone which had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974.
Israel seized much of the Golan from Syria in 1967, annexing the area in 1981 in a move largely unrecognised internationally.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa warned Saturday that Israel’s demand for a demilitarised zone in southern Syria would endanger his country and called for Israel to respect a 1974 disengagement agreement.
US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for a security pact between Israel and Syria, told Israel last week to avoid destabilising Syria and its new leadership.
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© Agence France-Presse
