Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
An Israeli drone strike targeted a member of the Palestinian Hamas Movement in the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn on June 8, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced.
Beit Jinn is located in the northern countryside of the al-Qunitra governorate, just outside the buffer zone adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The IDF took over the buffer zone right after the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad last December.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said that one person was killed and two others were wounded in the strike on the town.
Last week, two rockets fired from outside the buffer zone hit the Golan Heights, triggering a series of retaliatory Israeli strikes that targeted military sites in al-Quneitra and the neighboring Daraa governorate.
At the time, a shadowy group named after Mohammed Deif, the former military leader of Hamas who was killed by Israel last year, claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the first of its kind since the fall of the Assad regime. Despite this, Israel held Syria’s Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa personally responsible.
The escalation came following reports of talks between Israel and Syria’s Islamist-led Interim Government, including face-to-face meetings, aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region between the two longtime foes.
Hamas had a significant foothold in Syria until war broke out in the country in 2011, but has since reduced its presence. Its status in the country became uncertain following the fall of the Assad regime.
Still, the group could take advantage of the ideological similarities with the Islamist movement dominating Syria now to expand its influence in the country like never before.
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