Syrian man with disabilities shot dead by IDF during overnight raid in buffer zone
Army says troops opened fire after suspect kept approaching; residents say Muath Salama al-Baeer had Down syndrome and was unarmed; incident under military review
A Syrian man with disabilities was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during an overnight raid in a village in Syria’s south, according to state media.
The state-run SANA news agency reported that a “civilian with a disability was killed by Israeli occupation forces on Thursday during an incursion into Jamla.”
Jamla is located around two kilometers from the Israeli border, inside an IDF-controlled buffer zone.
SANA reported that troops raided the village’s eastern neighborhood and “positioned snipers on the rooftops of residential buildings as they continued their movements in the area.”
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF said that troops had operated overnight in the “security zone in southern Syria,” and that during the raid, “troops identified a suspect approaching them and carried out a suspect arrest procedure.”
“The suspect continued approaching the force, which responded by firing at the suspect to eliminate the threat,” the IDF said, adding that the incident was under further review.
The Associated Press identified the man as Muath Salama al-Baeer.
Residents of Jamla told the news agency that al-Baeer had Down syndrome, was unarmed when he was shot, and had lived with his sisters after the deaths of his parents. He was buried in the village later Thursday.
Jamla resident Adnan al-Masri told AP that Israeli forces regularly enter homes in the village during overnight operations. He said al-Baeer was neither armed nor resisting the troops, and questioned why he had been killed.
Israeli forces “enter people’s houses at midnight and at 3 o’clock in the morning without permission,” said al-Masri. “This martyr today has special needs. He was not a military man, did not have a weapon and was not resisting them. Why was he killed?”
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation forces’ crime of killing a young man with special needs,” adding that “targeting civilians constitutes a grave violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
Tarek al-Khalil, a lawyer and activist from Daraa, called on Syrian authorities to file cases against Israel before international courts. Others advocated for more drastic measures.
Al-Masri called on Syrian authorities to “protect our country and give us weapons” to confront Israeli forces.
Syrian authorities have given no indication that they plan to do so, but clashes have periodically broken out between armed villagers and Israeli troops.
SANA also reported that on Wednesday night, the Israeli military shelled the outskirts of the nearby town of Abdin with two shells, without causing any injuries or damage.
Israeli artillery shelling in southern Syria is not uncommon.
The IDF has remained deployed to nine posts in southern Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, most of them inside a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since the 1974 disengagement agreement.
Israeli troops have also operated in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Syria, seeking to seize weapons that Israel says could threaten the country if they fall into the hands of hostile forces.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has said the military will remain in the security zone for as long as Israel believes jihadist threats persist along the border.