Syria says Israeli raid captured civilians, not Hamas fighters
Syria on Thursday said the people detained by Israeli forces during an overnight raid in a southern Syrian town were civilians, rejecting Israel's claims that they were members of Hamas.
'The detainees are civilians, they're not fighters,' a Syrian Interior Ministry representative told The National.
About 100 Israeli soldiers in 10 vehicles stormed the town of Beit Jinn, 50 kilometres south-west of Damascus, broadcaster Syria TV reported. The Israeli troops killed one person during the raid, the channel added.
The Israeli military said its operation in Beit Jinn was 'based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks' and led to the arrest of 'several Hamas terrorists' who were allegedly plotting 'multiple terror attacks' against Israel and its military. It said the detainees were transferred to Israel for questioning.
The detainees were not identified and it was not immediately possible to independently verify whether they were affiliated with the Palestinian militant group.
Hamas has yet to comment.
The raid comes as Israel has stepped up operations in southern Syria following weeks of relative calm.
Israel launched waves of air strikes across Syria after rebel groups toppled the Bashar Al Assad regime in early December, destroying large parts of the Syrian army's weapons stockpile and seizing territory in the south.
Israel has expressed distrust towards Syria's new authorities, led by President Ahmad Al Shara, a former Al Qaeda commander-turned-statesman, who has pledged to govern the fractured country inclusively and unify all of Syria's armed groups under a single command structure.
Mr Al Shara's government has adopted a pragmatic approach towards Israel, with the President revealing during a visit to France last month that his country was engaged in indirect talks with the Israelis.
But tensions flared again in early June after projectiles were fired from southern Syria into Israeli territory. Israel retaliated with air strikes on June 8 – the first in nearly month –which it said killed a Hamas member on the outskirts of Beit Jinn.
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