JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israel Defense Forces has sent armored and artillery reinforcements to its northern border with Syria as the war between the Arab country’s army and rebels continues to escalate.
The forces were deployed on Sunday morning due to “developments” in the Syrian Golan Heights near the border with Israel, the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF said it will “continue its non-intervention policy in the Syrian conflict, while reacting firmly to cases in which Israeli sovereignty or civilians are threatened. Humanitarian assistance has been provided by Israel for many years and continues today, in light of the existing need.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussing the Syria situation at the start of Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, said Israel will defend its borders and provide humanitarian assistance.
“We will not allow entry into our territory and we will demand that the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement with the Syrian army be strictly upheld,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said that he is contact with the White House and the Kremlin on the Syria situation.
Thousands of displaced Syrians live in tent camps near the border with Israel, with tens of thousands more pouring in in recent days following fighting in Syria’s seven-year civil war in which approximately 500,000 people have died. Since the Syrian army began focusing last month on the rebel-held Daraa region in southern Syria, some 160,000 Syrian nationals have fled their homes and traveled to the borders of Israel and Jordan, where they feel they will be more protected.
In recent days Israel has transferred hundreds of tons of food, equipment and medicine to the displaced Syrians.
Over the weekend, six Syrians, including four children, who were seriously injured, were brought into Israel in what the IDF called a “unique and complex medical operation,” and given medical treatment. According to Syrian reports, the children’s families were killed by the bombings in Syria. The injured Syrian civilians were transferred to a hospital in Israel after receiving life-saving first aid by IDF soldiers, the IDF said.
Since 2013, over 3,500 civilians who were injured in Syria have received medical treatment in Israel. In addition, since 2016, as part of Operation Good Neighbor, over 1,300 Syrian children suffering from various illnesses and ailments have received one-day treatment in Israel’s field clinics. A field clinic established by the IDF and international aid organizations in the southern Golan Heights has provided medical treatment to some 6,000 civilians since its opening last August.
