Israeli troops fired live bullets at Syrians protesting in the southwest Daraa province hours after Israel's military offensive and seizure of two villages on Friday, injuring one.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces seized two villages, Jamlah and Maaraba, in Daraa province's Yarmouk Basin, as its occupation of Syrian territory continues to expand following the collapse of the Baath Party regime.
Since the regime's downfall on Dec. 8, Israeli forces have escalated their military offensives in Syria, destroying remaining military infrastructure and advancing into previously demilitarized zones.
Locals in Daraa protested against the occupation, chanting, "Israel Get out," while waving Syria's new flags. Israeli forces reportedly fired on protesters from nearby elevated positions, injuring one person.
Israel's recent actions include extending its control in the occupied Golan Heights and advancing to within 25 kilometers of the capital, Damascus. These efforts follow the intensification of regional conflict in late November.
Israel also declared the collapse of a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria and deployed its forces within the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights-a territory Israel has occupied since 1967. This move has been widely condemned by the United Nations and several Arab nations.
According to the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), the buffer zone "extends over 75 kilometers in length and ranges in width from approximately 10 kilometers in the center to 200 meters in the far south."
Bashar Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.
