The dozens of Syrian protesters that had been protesting in the central square of Magdal Shams left the Druse village and were crossing the border back into Syria on Sunday afternoon.
Residents of Majdal Shams convinced the protesters to return to Syria and said that the situation in the village was returning to normal, Army Radio reported. This followed the majority of protesters being returned to Syria by the IDF about one hour before hand.
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protestsPM on Nakba Day: 'There is no place for
incitement'The incident began when approximately 1,000 people on the Syrian side ran towards the border earlier on Sunday. The closest home to the border in Majdal Shams is about thirty meters from the border with Syria. Some 150 Syrians infiltrated the border and entered the Druse village.
One Syrian was killed and 30 or 40 were wounded in clashes which ensued
with the IDF. The army stated that soldiers fired at protesters' legs, and said it was investigating how the infiltrators successfully crossed the border into Israel.
The IDF detected Syrian military nearby, who were not preventing
protesters from crossing the border. Col. Eshkol Shukran, commander of
the Golan Regional Brigade was lightly injured by rocks thrown in the incident.
Following the incident, IDF tanks and paratroopers were deployed
throughout Majdal Shams.
'Border incidents are Iranian provocations'IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav "Poli" Mordechai described the incident in
which pro-Palestinians demonstrators crossed from Syria into Israel as
an "Iranian provocation."
"The radical axis of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas is very clear," Brig.-Gen. Yoav "Poli" Mordechai told Channel 10 News. "We have one incident in Maroun a-Ras area on the Lebanese border and a
second one at Majdal Shams, where we see fingerprints of Iranian
provocation aimed at creating friction," he added.
Another Israeli official said, "this is a cynical and transparent act by
the Syrian regime to create a crisis on the border with Israel in order
to distract public opinion from the very real problems at home."
"Syria is a police state. This sort of thing could not happen without
the support of the regime. It is clear they wanted this to play the
Israel card, in order to silence their own democratic opposition," the
official said.
Lebanon: Several killed in border clashAlso Sunday, IDF soldiers fired in the air and at the legs of protesters
to repel Palestinians demonstrating at Maroun a-Ras, on the
Lebanese-Israeli border near the Israeli town of Avivim. Conflicting reports about the number of people killed were circulated. The Lebanese army claimed ten
Lebanese were killed in the incident, while the IDF put the number at three to five.
The IDF stated that Lebanese Armed Forces were in the area and
responsible for a significant amount of gunfire. The IDF believes all or
some of the Lebanese protesters killed in the incident were killed by
Lebanese Armed Forces.
"Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians approached the fence at Marun
Aras. The Lebanese army did not stop them. When IDF saw them attempting
to destroy fence, they took steps to stop them," Mordechai told Channel
10.
Police mobilized the Lebanon Border Unit, the Counter-Terrorism Unit and other special units to the North.
Ten IDF soldiers and 3 commanders were injured in the two events at the Lebanese and Syrian borders.
Yaakov Lappin and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report