Damascus, Syria - Syria's Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned Israeli incursions and a series of brutal attacks in the country's south a day after violence escalated near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Tensions rose on Sunday in the village of Abidin, located in the Yarmuk Basin area of the southern Daraa province, after Israeli forces advanced into the area.
Mahmud Mowaffaq, a local official in Abidin, told AFP that some residents had "blocked a road for an Israeli patrol that had tried to advance into the village" on Sunday.
"Residents fled during the night because of the shelling near homes in the village, as Israeli forces deployed nearby," he said. An AFP photographer saw a resident inspecting an unexploded artillery shell near his home after returning on Monday.
State media and a local official confirmed Israeli forces responded to the blockage with a barrage of artillery fire, prompting residents to flee to nearby villages overnight.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned "the Israeli attacks represented by incursions into Syrian territory in Quneitra and Daraa provinces and the targeting of the region with artillery shelling."
They slammed Israel's actions as yet another example of "a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity."
After the December 2024 overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that for decades separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan, occupying what it now calls a "security zone."
Despite holding the so-called "security zone," Israel continues to carry out violent and bloody incursions deep into Syrian territory, and has waged a deadly bombing campaign on much of the country's south.
The Israeli army said its soldiers on Saturday "eliminated several armed terrorists in the security zone in southern Syria" but provided no evidence that those targeted were proven terrorists.