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Three people were wounded on Tuesday by Israeli gunfire during an incursion in southern Syria, state television reported, while the Israeli army described the incident as a “clash” with “suspects.”

According to state television, “three people were wounded by fire from the Israeli occupation forces” in the Quneitra region, on the Golan Heights. The official Sana agency reported that Israeli forces had “set up a checkpoint and fired on civilians.”

The Israeli army said in a statement that “during an operation in the Quneitra area in southern Syria, a confrontation occurred when several suspects approached the troops.”

Soldiers first “fired warning shots into the air,” then targeted two “instigators” who failed to move away, the army added.

The incident comes after a previous incursion on November 28 in southern Syria that left 13 people dead and six Israeli soldiers wounded. According to the Israeli army, the operation targeted an Islamist group. 

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel has deployed troops in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, beyond the line separating the portion of Syrian territory annexed by Israel in 1981 from the rest of Syria, and has carried out hundreds of strikes and several incursions in the country.

The two enemy countries have begun direct contacts aimed at reaching a security agreement. However, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said Saturday that Israel’s insistence on establishing a demilitarized zone in southern Syria placed Damascus in a “dangerous position.”

AFP