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A top Syrian official has accused Israel of committing war crimes following a deadly raid on a Syrian village.

Getting into it: The raid, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning, targeted the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli ground forces, supported by drones, helicopters, and artillery, entered the village to capture members of Jama’a Islamiya, a Lebanese terror group Israel claims was planning rocket and IED attacks. The operation quickly escalated into a deadly confrontation after local residents confronted the troops, prompting the Israeli military to open fire and call in air support.

According to Syrian officials and eyewitnesses, the raid resulted in the deaths of at least 13 civilians, including two children and several members of the same family. Local accounts describe Israeli forces firing on moving vehicles and preventing medical teams from reaching the wounded. Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the incursion as a “savage and deliberate bombardment” and a “full-fledged war crime,” accusing Israel of deliberately targeting non-combatants. Syrian state media reported large-scale displacement from the area, with dozens of families fleeing to nearby towns amid continued aerial surveillance by Israeli drones.

Israel, meanwhile, defended the operation as a necessary counterterrorism measure. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the raid was aimed at detaining militants who posed an imminent threat to Israeli security and confirmed the arrest of several suspects. The IDF reported that six of its soldiers were injured during the exchange, three of them seriously. It released bodycam footage showing what it described as “face-to-face combat” and characterized the raid as part of its “ongoing routine operations” in the region.

This all comes after other incursions into southern Syria. Earlier this year, similar raids were conducted in the towns of Nawa and Koayiah, each ending in civilian deaths after Israeli forces were met with resistance.