Syrian
television on Sunday reported that six people were killed and 10
injured
along
the Syria-Israel border in the Golan Heights near Majdal Shams,
reportedly from IDF fire.
The IDF spokesperson said that the only information it had on deaths on
the border were Syrian reports and therefore, it could not confirm the
number of people killed or if there were any deaths.
After several hours of clashes, IDF began allowing Red Cross teams access to the Syrian border area in order to evacuate wounded protesters, Channel 10 reported.
Two armed men were identified near the
border fence in Kunetra, on the Syrian side of the border, the IDF Spokesman told
The Jerusalem Post on Sunday afternoon.
RELATED:
Editorial: Gearing up for Naksa
PM: We will protect borders with determination, restraint
There
was no further official information about he identity of the gunmen, or
their proximity to the border but a security official suggested that
the men could be Syrian police or army forces
Prior to spotting the armed men, according to
the IDF spokesperson, around 150 people managed to cross to the Syrian
side of the fence, entering a mined zone between the two fences in the Majdal Shams area.
"We
issued warnings for them to stop advancing. When they continued, we
fired warning shots in the air," an IDF spokeswoman told
The Jerusalem Post.
When the demonstrators continued toward the Israeli fence, they said, shots were fired at their lower bodies. "We know of 12 injuries," she added.
A second demonstration was observed on the Syrian border in Kunetra, where 200
to 300 demonstrators amassed. The IDF said there was no attempt to cross the
border at that event, and no injuries were recorded
IDF
forces were sending Arabic-language messages through loudspeakers over
the border, warning that anyone approaching the fence would be killed.
Syrian
television also reported that demonstrators were attempting to breach
the fence at several other points in the Golan Heights, Channel 2
reported.
Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu warned that there are "radical elements who are trying to
breach [Israel's] borders to mark the anniversary of the start of the
Six Day War," speaking at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We won't allow them to do it."
Netanyahu added that the security forces will act "firmly but with restraint."
IDF and police forces were on high alert and have shored up their presence on
several of Israel’s frontiers ahead of Sunday’s anticipated border marches to
commemorate the Palestinian “Naksa,” or “setback” in the 1967 Six Day War. A
wide-scale Internet campaign has called for protests in the West Bank and
Jerusalem, on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan and outside its
embassies in Cairo and Amman.