Israeli Shelling on Dar'a Countryside and Damascus Calls on the UN to Stop Violations

SadaNews - Israeli forces escalated their operations in western Dar'a countryside after artillery shelled the village of Abideen following the incursion of military vehicles into the Yarmouk Basin, while the villagers resisted the Israeli patrol and blocked its path with stones.

The shells targeted agricultural lands around the village, coinciding with the flight of Israeli helicopters that fired their machine guns toward the outskirts of Abideen and dropped thermal balloons in the area, causing panic among the residents and prompting several families to flee to neighboring towns, amidst the ongoing military flights in the airspace of Dar'a and Quneitra countrysides.

The commander of the civil defense operations in southern Syria confirmed that the shelling did not result in injuries or material damage, but it caused fear among the residents, noting that civil defense teams are working to transfer the displaced families and secure their needs in the neighboring areas.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Israeli forces fired at residents during their withdrawal from the village after they had penetrated with five military vehicles and set up checkpoints on the roads leading to the village of Jomla, subjecting passersby, including children, to searches, and preventing civilians from leaving Abideen while firing into the air to intimidate them.

For its part, the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya TV channel reported that its crew was shot at by Israeli soldiers while covering the incursion into the village, without reporting any injuries.

In response to the developments, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as Israeli assaults on the provinces of Dar'a and Quneitra, considering them a violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a breach of international law and the disengagement agreement of 1974.

Damascus called on the United Nations and the international community to assume their responsibilities and take steps to stop the repeated Israeli violations and ensure respect for the disengagement agreement, warning that the continuation of these practices threatens security and stability and increases the likelihood of escalation in the region.

These developments come amid an increase in Israeli operations within Syrian territory over the past months, which included ground incursions, searches, and arrests, following Israel's announcement of the collapse of the 1974 forces separation agreement and its control over the buffer zone after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.