Daraa, Syria - April 3, 2025 Thousands of people on Thursday, April 3, attended the funeral of nine Syrians killed in Israeli attacks near the city of Nawa in western Daraa Governorate, southern Syria. The Syrian local authorities of the Daraa Governorate on Thursday said the initial death toll from the Israeli incursion and strikes in southern Syria reached nine, along with several injuries. In a statement, the Daraa Governorate said the Israeli shelling took place in the Jabaliyeh Dam forest near the city of Nawa, western Daraa. The statement noted that this was the first time the Israeli troops reached deep into the area amid widespread outrage and mass protests across the region. The Israeli army late Wednesday made an incursion near the city of Nawa in western Daraa Governorate, southern Syria, local media reported. "The Israeli occupation army advanced with several military vehicles into the wooded area near the Jabaliyeh Dam, close to the city of Nawa in western Daraa, coinciding with reconnaissance aircraft activity in the area,” the Daraa governorate said on Telegram. Earlier, the Israeli fighter jets carried out at least 11 airstrikes on the Syrian cities of Damascus and Hama, the Syrian news agency SANA reported. After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. Israel also took advantage of the regime's fall to launch hundreds of strikes that targeted military sites and assets across Syria, including fighter jets, missile systems, and air defense installations, according to reports.