Israeli Artillery Reportedly Targets Areas Near Damascus and in Southern Syria
SANA, cited by Iran’s IRNA, reported shelling near al-Hamidiyah in Quneitra and Bat al-Warda hill near Beit Jinn, with no casualties reported in the Quneitra attack.
SANA, cited by Iran’s IRNA, reported that Israeli artillery struck areas near al-Hamidiyah in Quneitra and Bat al-Warda hill near Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside on Friday. No casualties were reported in the Quneitra attack. The same account said Israeli forces detained a young shepherd during an operation in western Daraa and described the incidents as part of wider Israeli military activity in southern Syria.
Artillery units of the Israeli army reportedly shelled areas near the town of al-Hamidiyah in Syria’s Quneitra province and Bat al-Warda hill near the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside on Friday, according to Syria’s official news agency, SANA, as cited by Iran’s IRNA.
SANA reported that several artillery shells struck the outskirts of al-Hamidiyah. No casualties were reported in that attack, according to the agency. Earlier the same day, Israeli forces had reportedly fired several artillery rounds at Bat al-Warda hill near Beit Jinn, an area in the countryside around Damascus.
The reported shelling formed part of a broader series of incidents described in the report as taking place across southern Syria. In the western countryside of Daraa, Israeli forces reportedly entered the Wadi al-Raqad area near the town of Jamlah using about nine military vehicles. The report said that the troops detained a young shepherd who had been grazing his sheep and transferred him to an undisclosed location.
The account did not provide the identity of the detained man or further information about his whereabouts. It also did not report casualties from the alleged detention operation.
According to the report, repeated Israeli military activity in southern Syria has included attacks on civilian homes, arrests of residents, the destruction of land with bulldozers and artillery strikes. The report characterized these actions as violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement.
Syria has repeatedly called for Israeli forces to leave its territory, according to the account. Damascus has also maintained that Israeli actions are invalid and without legal effect under international law, and has urged the international community to fulfill what Syria describes as its responsibilities by pressing for a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Syria.
The report placed the latest incidents within developments that followed the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024. It said that Israel had used the resulting security vacuum to conduct strikes on Syria’s heavy defense installations and fighter aircraft, while also advancing in Quneitra in the south. The report further stated that Israel had taken control of parts of southern Syria, including the strategically important Mount Hermon area.
The report cited a pattern of violations across several southern provinces. It said Quneitra had recorded the highest number of reported violations, while Daraa ranked second with 32 incidents. Unlike the activity described in Quneitra, the report said, violations in Daraa had included artillery attacks, ground incursions and intensive fighter-jet flights. In the Damascus countryside and Suwayda, it said, reported violations had mainly involved flights by aircraft described as hostile.
The reported events could not be independently verified from the supplied account. The available information is based on SANA’s reporting as relayed by IRNA, and no Israeli statement or separate casualty assessment was included.