DAMASCUS: Amnesty International said on Thursday that the Israeli army&#39;s destruction of civilian homes in southern Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad should be investigated as &quot;war crimes&quot;. Israel moved its forces into a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Israeli-occupied <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/syria-says-israeli-tank-fire-kills-man-in-countrys-south" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Syrian Golan Heights</a> after Assad&#39;s December 2024 toppling. It has also launched hundreds of strikes on Syria and carries out regular incursions into the country&#39;s south where it demands a demilitarized zone. Call for probe&quot;The Israeli military&#39;s deliberate destruction of civilian homes&quot; in southern Syria&#39;s Quneitra province since December 2024 &quot;with no absolute military necessity, should be investigated as war crimes&quot;, Amnesty said in a statement. &quot;Israel has an obligation to make reparations for these serious violations of international humanitarian law,&quot; the rights group added. Amnesty said that the day Assad fell, Israeli forces entered three villages and towns in the UN-demilitarized zone in Quneitra province, &quot;conducting home raids and ordering residents to leave&quot;. &quot;Over the following six months, the Israeli military destroyed or damaged at least 23 civilian structures in three villages,&quot; Amnesty said, adding that witnesses described the buildings as &quot;their and their neighbors&#39; homes&quot;. Satellite imageryThe rights group said it used satellite imagery to verify damage and destruction to 23 structures in the villages. &quot;Securing Israel&#39;s border cannot be used to justify bulldozing and blowing up people&#39;s homes and villages on the territory of another country,&quot; Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty&#39;s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa said in the statement. Israeli operations in south Syria have continued even as the new authorities in Damascus have held talks with Israeli officials in recent months as they edge towards a security agreement after decades of hostilities. Israel has occupied most of Syria&#39;s Golan Heights since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognized by most of the international community.

Middle East

Israel moved its forces into a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights after Assad's December 2024 toppling; it has also launched hundreds of strikes on Syria and carries out regular incursions into the country's south where it demands a demilitarized zone.

Amnesty calls for 'war crimes' probe into Israeli destruction of south Syria homes

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israeli fire killed a man in Qunietra province in the country&#39;s south near the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/usisrael-war-on-iran-day-35" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Israeli-occupied</a> Golan Heights as the foreign ministry decried the death of a civilian. State news agency SANA said that the man was killed in an attack by &quot;an Israeli tank&quot;, while state television said a car was targeted. Syria&#39;s foreign ministry in a statement condemned &quot;in the strongest terms the crime committed by Israeli occupation forces in targeting a civilian car with a tank shell&quot;. It said the attack &quot;led to the death of a civilian&quot;, calling it &quot;a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law&quot; and urging the international community to help &quot;stop these repeated violations&quot;. After the December <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/syria-government-agrees-new-truce-with-kurdish-forces" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">2024 overthrow</a> of Syria&#39;s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights. Israel has also carried out repeated incursions into Syrian territory since then, as well as bombings, and has said it wants a demilitarized zone in the country&#39;s south. State media regularly reports Israeli incursions and sometimes the detention of individuals in southern Syria. Earlier Friday, SANA reported that Israeli forces in Quneitra province had closed several roads &quot;leading to new military positions that they have established in the area&quot;, restricting the movement of local residents and farmers. It also said several Israeli vehicles had set up a temporary checkpoint in a village where they searched passers-by. Last month, Israel&rsquo;s military said it struck Syrian army camps in response to what it claimed were attacks on the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/druze-seek-sweida-autonomy-turn-to-israel-amid-syria-tensions" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Druze</a> community in southern Sweida province, while the Syrian foreign ministry called it &ldquo;an outrageous assault.&rdquo; The Israeli strikes came as war roils the Middle East after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, in a move not recognized by most of the international community. Despite the tensions, Israel and Syria&#39;s new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks and have agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism as they edge towards a security agreement.

Israeli security personnel secure an area around a rocket partly buried in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on March 19, 2026. (AFP)

Syrian state media says Israeli tank fire killed a man in Quneitra near the Golan Heights. Damascus condemned the attack as a civilian-targeted violation of international law amid ongoing war in the Middle East.

Articles tagged with "Israeli-occupied Golan Heights"

Amnesty calls for 'war crimes' probe into Israeli destruction of south Syria homes

Syria says Israeli tank fire kills man in country's south