Two wounded from Syria war cross into Israel to be treated in hospital

Israeli Druse in touch with Syrian rebels tells ‘Post” that injured are either from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army or ordinary civilians that got caught up in the crossfire.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Israeli soldiers stand near the border with Syria in the Golan Heights (photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli soldiers stand near the border with Syria in the Golan Heights
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Two wounded Syrians arrived overnight Monday and were taken to Poriya Hospital near Tiberias, Israel Radio reported.
One of the injured was 27 years old with shrapnel in his upper body. The other was 26 with a bullet lodged in his spine. So far the hospital has treated 176 wounded from the war in Syria, said the report.
“Fighting continued all night between the Syrian rebels and the Syrian regime on the Syrian side of the border,” Mendi Safadi, an Israeli Druse who in the past served as Deputy Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara’s chief of staff, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Safadi, who has traveled in the region, met with activists and claimed that he relayed messages from them to the Prime Minister’s Office, said that he had been on the Golan last night and most of Tuesday.
“At night one can see and hear the fighting from Syria.”
Asked about the injured Syrians that are being treated in Israel, Safadi speculated that they are either from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army or ordinary civilians that got caught up in the crossfire.
Asked if it is possible that al-Qaida linked Nusra Front fighters are entering Israel for treatment, Safadi rejected this notion, claiming that the group has their own medical clinics and doctors in Syria.
In any case, he added, “they don’t want to come to Israel and be accused of having relations with the state.”
The Israeli border appears to be secure and the IDF is knowledgeable about who is entering the country for treatment, said Safadi, adding that some wounded that arrive have their Syrian medical files with them.
Regarding the fighting in Syria, Safadi asserted that Hezbollah received a hard blow in the ongoing fighting in the Lebanon-Syrian border region of Qalamoun, having lost many fighters.
“The fact that [Hassan] Nasrallah called for mobilization from his base of Shi’ite supporters in Lebanon attests to this,” he said, referring to comments by the group’s leader over the weekend. “Why did he call for this now and not two months ago?”


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