Israel on Friday launched another unprovoked major attack on Syria, which has killed at least 13 people, including children - and additionally some 25 have been reported injured.

In this instance, the assault on the southern Syrian town Beit Jinn was a rare ground raid by Israeli forces, likely accompanied by air and artillery support.

"The Israeli military said six soldiers were wounded, three of them severely, by militant fire during the raid in the village of Beit Jinn," Reuters reports based on official sources. It's unclear whether the IDF forces incurred fatalities, but if so the Israeli government is likely to keep it under wraps.

The Israeli dawn raid and strikes forced dozens of families to flee from the town in search of safer areas. The Syrian Foreign Ministry swiftly condemned "the criminal attack carried out by an Israeli occupation army patrol in Beit Jinn."

The statement added, "The occupation forces’ targeting of the town of Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling, following their failed incursion, constitutes a full-fledged war crime."

There are reports the Israeli assault also included artillery shelling - which may have been why there were so many civilian casualties:

The remains of at least five Syrians, including two children, were taken to the Golan National Hospital in the city of al-Salam in Quneitra, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Israeli drones have also been active over the area. In post-Assad Syria, the IDF has encroached more and more on Syrian territory, expanding significantly beyond its Golan Heights occupation.

The Israeli military has described that the high-risk operation was launched to detain suspects belonging to Jama'a Islamiya - a Lebanese Sunni Islamist group which is alleged to have fired rockets at Israel from Lebanon during the Gaza war. The statement further charged the group "terrorist plots".

This development constitutes a very rare instance of the IDF suffering so many casualties while operating in Syria, per Reuters:

In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military said six of its soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously in an exchange of fire.

The Israeli military added that while the operation has been “completed” and all suspects were either arrested or “eliminated”, its forces are still being deployed in the area “and will continue to operate against any threat” to Israel.

There's a certain irony surrounding Israel's sudden interesting in tracking down and rooting out Sunni Islamists near its border - given that for years during the regime change war against Assad Israel openly tolerated, and in some cases even supported, some of these very same jihadists.