FLASH
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Thirteen people were killed in an Israeli operation in southern Syria on Friday, Syrian state media reported. Damascus accused Israel of carrying out a "criminal attack" on a village where Israel said its troops came under fire during an operation to arrest militants.
The Israeli military said six soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously, by gunfire from militants during the operation in the village of Beit Jin.
The death toll suggests the Israeli operation has become one of the bloodiest since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad a year ago.
Israel frequently bombed Syria when it was ruled by Assad and increased the intensity of its military operations in the country after he was overthrown, citing goals that included keeping militants away from the border.
The Israeli military said its troops had launched an operation to arrest suspected members of Jama'a Islamiya - a Lebanese Islamist group that fired rockets at Israel from Lebanon during the Gaza war - accusing them of involvement in "terrorist plots".
The military described the operation as part of routine operations in the area in recent months.
The Syrian state news agency SANA, which reported 13 people killed and dozens wounded, said Israeli forces bombed Beit Jinn at 3:40 a.m. and that Israeli troops had entered the village.
Residents confronted Israeli forces, who retaliated, leading to "violent clashes," she added.
The Israeli military said "armed terrorists" fired on its troops, and they returned fire, aided by "air support."
"A number of terrorists were eliminated," she said.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that Israel will not allow "terrorism and terrorist elements to be entrenched within our borders," and that three people suspected of "involvement in terrorist plots" were arrested on Friday.
The Israeli military accused them of planting explosive devices and "planning attacks on Israel, including with rockets."
Syria's Foreign Ministry said the Israeli attack killed more than 10 civilians, including women and children, damaged property and forced residents to flee their homes, accusing Israel of committing a "war crime" and warning that the attacks endanger the security and stability of the region.
Walid Akasha, a local official in Beit Jinn, denied that there were terrorist factions there.
"We are a peaceful, civilian, agricultural population. We have the legal right to defend ourselves. We did not attack them first, they came to our land," he told Reuters by telephone.
Syrian and Israeli officials have met frequently in US-brokered talks on a security agreement aimed at bringing stability to the border region, but the talks were suspended in September.
Israel has expressed deep suspicions of the new Syrian government, which is led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander, and has said it wants a demilitarized southern Syria.
Sharaa has said that Syria does not pose a threat to any country.
Israel has moved troops and military equipment beyond the 1974 demarcation line and into southern Syria, including the strategic point of Mount Hermon./ REL
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