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

Amnesty International said on Thursday that the Israeli army's destruction of civilian homes in southern Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad should be investigated as "war crimes".

Israel moved its forces into a UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights after Assad's December 2024 toppling by Islamist forces whom it considers jihadists.

It has also launched hundreds of strikes on Syria and carries out regular incursions into the country's south where it demands a demilitarised zone.

"The Israeli military's deliberate destruction of civilian homes" in southern Syria's Quneitra province since December 2024 "with no absolute military necessity, should be investigated as war crimes", Amnesty said in a statement.

"Israel has an obligation to make reparations for these serious violations of international humanitarian law," the rights group added.

Amnesty said that the day Assad fell, Israeli forces entered three villages and towns in the UN-demilitarised zone in Quneitra province, "conducting home raids and ordering residents to leave".

"Over the following six months, the Israeli military destroyed or damaged at least 23 civilian structures in three villages," Amnesty said, adding that witnesses described the buildings as "their and their neighbours' homes".

The rights group said it used satellite imagery to verify damage and destruction to 23 structures in the villages.

"Securing Israel's border cannot be used to justify bulldozing and blowing up people's homes and villages on the territory of another country," Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty'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 Islamist 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's Golan Heights since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by most of the international community.