The town of Beit Jinn in the eastern part of Syria’s Rif Damashq Governorate is reeling today after a major Israeli raid turned into a major attack, involving ground troops and airstrikes against the small town, leaving at least 15 dead including women and children. It is being described by locals as a massacre and by the Syrian Foreign Ministry as a war crime.
The IDF raided the city on early Friday, aiming to capture suspected members of Jamaa Islamiya (JI), the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The IDF statement referred to them as “terrorists,” though JI is mainly a Lebanese Sunni Islamist political faction, and it’s military wing, while still extant, is rarely active.
The attempted arrests met with resistance and then armed resistance, leading to the Israeli troops and tanks opening fire on the locals. They ultimately withdrew and launched airstrikes and artillery fire against the town. In the end, 15 locals were killed and 20 wounded. Six IDF soldiers were also reported wounded in the clashes.
Israel invaded Syria in December, immediately following the ouster of the Assad government. Since then they have been engaged in military operations within Quneitra and Daraa, but occasionally they launch raids as far north as Rif Damashq. Beit Jinn saw a similar raid back in June, in which the IDF captured seven locals they claimed were “Hamas” but appeared to simply be ordinary locals.
Though Beit Jinn is relatively near the Lebanese border, and thus it can’t totally be ruled out that JI people would be in the town, the Lebanese group is mostly active in the northern reaches of the country, in areas like Tripoli, and there seems little reason they should be present in Beit Jinn, let alone for any nefarious reason.
Reportedly, the IDF had captured multiple young men before the fighting began. Those captures led to other youths firing at range on the advancing Israeli forces. The fate of those captured before the fighting remains unknown.
It is not unusual for Israeli troops to advance, seemingly with purpose, into a Syrian town or village and “arrest” multiple young men on suspicion. Despite making much of the arrests sometimes, almost always those detained end up being released with little to no fanfare.
This incident, with its high death toll, is likely to be more of a topic of discussion, particularly as reportedly at least four women and children were among the casualties of the strikes, which collapsed at least one home, and led to dozens of families fleeing the town into the surrounding area.
It will doubtless cast a pall over the ongoing peace talks between Syria and Israel, though their status is unclear at any rate, as just a day prior Defense Minister Israel Katz ruled out peace with Syria at all, with wild claims of Yemen’s Houthi movement planning to use Syrian territory to attack the occupied Golan Heights.
Katz’s allegations came without a shred of evidence provided, and would be unrelated to today’s operation, as the JI is a Sunni group and the Houthis are Zaydi Shi’ites, and there is no suggestion they are in any way affiliated, beyond Israel not liking either.
