TEHRAN – Iran has categorically condemned the Israeli regime’s recent acts of aggression, from the air and from the ground, against areas in southern Syria in which a number of Syrian citizens were killed.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei reiterated regional nations’ inherent right to defend their territorial integrity and national sovereignty against Israeli aggression, saying “Syrians’ resistance against Israeli forces is a natural response to aggression.”

On Friday, Israel attacked the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus suburbs by helicopters and drones after the regime’s forces entered the town, killing at least 13 Syrians and injuring two dozen others.

Having been engaged in a two-hour fierce exchange of fire, the Israeli soldiers were forced to withdraw from Beit Jinn and reposition on the hill of Butt al-Warda on the outskirts of the town.

Israeli media acknowledged that six of the regime’s forces were wounded in the armed clashes, including three seriously, saying the occupation army was subjected to a “sudden ambush” that confused the soldiers and led to the intervention of additional reserve units along with warplanes in an attempt to open a safe passage.

According to an unsourced report from the regime’s Channel 13, the Israeli forces could transition to conducting fewer abductions near the border and instead increase airstrikes to eliminate alleged targets.

Israel is reportedly preparing for potential attacks from Syria, which has condemned the Israeli aggression as a “war crime.”

Syria’s interim Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country “denounces… the criminal aggression” of the Israeli regime, adding that such acts aim to “ignite the region” in conflict.

The violent raid came a day after Israeli forces carried out a new ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in the countryside of the southwestern city of Quneitra.

The official SANA news agency said that an Israeli unit of four vehicles entered the village, raided houses, and then withdrew.

Israel has conducted repeated acts of aggression across the Syrian territory following the collapse of Assad’s government last year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize several strategic locations.

Instead of resistance against the ongoing Israeli military operations, analysts believe the HTS-led regime’s lack of action and its normalization overtures to Tel Aviv appear to have given Israel greater leeway to expand its occupation and increase the intensity of its airstrikes.

Foreign-backed militants, led by HTS — a group that was previously affiliated with the al-Qaeda— took control of Damascus and declared an end to Assad’s rule last December.