At least six people killed in Israeli attacks on southern Syria

The violence in the border area marks increased friction between Israel and Syria.

At least six people have been killed in an Israeli attack on Koya in southern Syria, the country’s foreign ministry says.

The Israeli military said the attack on Tuesday took place after armed fighters opened fire towards Israeli troops, without specifying whether the Israeli forces were located within Syrian territory when they were targeted. It said its troops returned fire and that an Israeli warplane struck the fighters. It gave no details on casualties but said “hits were identified”.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “the continued Israeli aggression on Syrian territory, which saw a dangerous escalation in the village of Kuwayya” in the southern Deraa province.

It called for an international investigation into the Israeli attacks on its territory, describing them as a “blatant violation of its sovereignty”.

The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the attack on Koya “in the strongest terms”.

“This fascist aggression represents a serious escalation of Zionist violations against the Syrian Arab Republic and its brotherly people, and a new war crime,” it said on Telegram on Tuesday.

The violence in the border area comes at a time of rising tensions between Israel and Syria, where a new interim government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been installed after opposition fighters toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad last December.

In the wake of al-Assad’s removal, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on military sites in Syria and sent its troops across the border into a UN-patrolled buffer zone, saying they will thwart any threats. Syria’s leadership has said it does not intend to open a front against Israel.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had “struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4”, referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the city. On Friday, the military carried out strikes on the same bases.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Tuesday that Israel’s strikes on Syria “risk further escalation”.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Kallas said the pair had discussed Israel’s actions.

“And we [the EU] feel that these things are unnecessary, because Syria is right now not attacking Israel,” Kallas said.

The foreign ministry in Jordan also condemned Tuesday’s incursion and bombardment as “a dangerous escalation” that risked fuelling “further conflict and tension in the region”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday that he was “concerned by Israeli statements on the intention to stay in Syria” and demands for the full demilitarisation of the south.

At an Arab summit in Cairo in early March, Syria’s al-Sharaa also called on the international community to pressure Israel to “immediately” withdraw its troops from southern Syria, calling their presence a “direct threat” to peace in the region.