Israel army says it seized Hamas members in Syria raid

The Israeli army said yesterday that its soldiers seized several suspected members of Palestinian militant group Hamas in a "targeted" operation in southern Syria.

Syrian authorities did not immediately comment on the raid, but Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one man was killed and seven seized during the raid on Beit Jinn, 12 kilometres (seven and a half miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria aimed at denying military assets to the Islamist-led interim administration, which it regards as jihadist.

It has also deployed troops across the demilitarised zone on the Syrian side of the armistice line that used to separate the opposing forces on the Golan.

The Israeli military said troops carried out a "targeted, intelligence-based nighttime operation in Syria and apprehended several Hamas terrorists".

It alleged that those seized were plotting attacks on Israeli troops.

The Observatory said a "major Israeli force" raided Beit Jinn overnight, calling out the names of several young men and arresting seven of them before taking them to "an unknown location".

"During the operation, Israeli forces opened fire on a young man near his home, instantly killing him," the monitor added.

It said the dead man and all of those detained were Syrian "civilians".

The raid comes days after the Israeli army said it "struck a Hamas terrorist in the area of Mazraat Beit Jinn", which neighbours Beit Jinn.

In early June, Israel reported rocket fire from Syrian-held territory towards the Israeli-occupied Golan, the first since Assad's overthrow, and retaliated with a series of strikes on the country.

Since taking over in December, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said repeatedly that Syria does not want conflict with its neighbours, urging international pressure on Israel to halt its attacks.