Early Friday morning, the Israeli military raided the town of Beit Jinn, in western Syria, sparking a clash and Israeli artillery shells and airstrikes against the town that left at least 15 dead and 20 wounded.
Syria criticized the attack and killings, but also ruled out actually retaliating militarily over the incident. Israeli officials, however, are less willing to look the other way, mulling substantial escalation of their invasion of Syria over the fact that they encountered even modest resistance on the raid.
The IDF said they were looking into the possibility that Syrian forces might’ve fired on the invading Israeli troops during the operation against Beit Jinn. That doesn’t appear to have been the case, with the return fire they encountered previously reported coming from locals who happened to be armed.
The Israeli military is said to be considering transitioning to a more “Lebanon-style” strategy for their continued attacks on Syria, relying less on ground operations and carrying out more assassinations and airstrikes across the area.
The raid on Beit Jinn was intended to capture members of Jamaa Islamiya (JI), a Lebanese political party, though the IDF statement on the matter referred to them as “terrorists.” They had conducted a previous raid against the same town in June, capturing seven people then who they claimed were Hamas.
Israel invaded Syria last December, immediately following the ouster of the Assad government. They have occupied the former demilitarized zone and are carrying out raids against a growing swathe of southwestern Syria, while establishing military outposts in the area.
Though the IDF capturing locals is not unusual, it is often the case that the people they detain are released hours or days later without any charges. This would greatly complicate a transition to the “Lebanon-style” operations, which boils down to killing anybody suspected of anything or operating a functional vehicle and posthumously declaring them a high-level Hezbollah leader.
Adding to the complications this transition would create is that Israel is meant to be engaged in ongoing peace talks with Syria, unlikely Lebanon where Israel has refused repeatedly to hold talks, and presents themselves as committed to the 2024 ceasefire while attacking on an almost daily basis. Though the Israeli DM Israel Katz has ruled out any peace deal with Syria, others in the government seem to be trying to achieve some sort of return to quiet, which a dramatic escalation would seemingly preclude.
