The army provided medical care to four wounded Syrians who approached the Golan
border fence on Wednesday, evacuating two of them to Israeli hospitals for
further treatment, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said.
IDF Chief of Staff
Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz approved the treatment, which was provided for
humanitarian reasons.
The army emphasized that the move did not represent
a change in Israel’s policy regarding the acceptance of refugees from Syria. The
two wounded Syrians taken to Israel would be returned to Syria following
treatment, the IDF said.
Israel took in seven wounded Syrians for
treatment on February 16 , admitting them to Ziv Hospital in Safed. The Syrians
were wounded in the civil war between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and
armed rebels. The Golan Heights’ eastern foothills, under Syrian control, have
seen increased fighting between the sides.
Six of the seven Syrians
admitted on February 16 were repatriated to Syria after treatment on February
27.
The seventh is still under Israeli medical care with severe
wounds.
The Syrian civil war also crossed into Lebanese territory on
Wednesday, when five shells fired from Syria hit in Lebanon, one day after
President Michel Suleiman warned that Syrian strikes on his country’s soil were
an unacceptable violation of its sovereignty.
Witnesses said the shells
hit in fields near al-Qasr, a village less than 1.6 km. from the border, but no
one was hurt.
The Syrian government has warned it may strike at rebels
taking refuge across the frontier.
Lebanon, which fought its own civil
war from 1975 to 1990, has tried to maintain a policy of “dissociation” from the
Syrian conflict.