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Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that a civilian with a disability was killed on October 22 by fire from Israeli forces during their incursion into Jamla village in Daraa province. The agency said Israeli troops had bombed the area late the previous evening before moving into one neighborhood and placing snipers on rooftops of residential buildings. SANA added that the victim’s body was transferred to Deraa National Hospital following the incident.
Residents identified the deceased as Muath Salama al-Baeer, a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome who lived with his sisters after the death of both parents, according to a report by Arab News. They told the Associated Press that al-Baeer was unarmed and offered no resistance when he was shot. The killing has prompted a funeral in the village where mourners expressed anger over repeated Israeli operations in the area.
The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers identified a suspect approaching them during the overnight operation and carried out a suspect apprehension procedure, Arab News reported. The military has offered no immediate further comment on the specific circumstances of the civilian’s death. Jamla lies outside the zone occupied by Israeli forces but has witnessed frequent cross-border activity in recent months.
Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces have conducted hundreds of strikes and regular incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has condemned the actions as undermining peace and security across the country. The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday denouncing the intensification of incursions into both Quneitra and Daraa provinces.
In a related development, SANA reported that Israeli forces uprooted olive groves across roughly 1.3 hectares near the village of Saida in Quneitra province earlier this week. Mohammad Ali al-Chaghla, 58, the landowner, told AFP that tanks entered his field without warning and destroyed around 400 trees. The area borders the buffer zone where Israeli troops have been constructing fortifications.
SANA said a separate raid occurred in the Quneitra village of Turnejeh where forces searched homes and detained one person. The individual was later released, according to the agency. Syrian officials have described the pattern of operations as repeated violations of national sovereignty since the political changes in Damascus last year.
