Army bolsters medical teams on Syrian border

The IDF announced Thursday that it was beefing up medical teams along the border with Syria following several cases of wounded Syrians crossing the frontier to seek medical care.

A military official said that there have been “numerous incidents” in recent months in which Syrians wounded in fighting in their civil-war-torn country arrived at the frontier for first aid from Israeli medics.

Eleven of the wounded Syrians were taken in and treated at Israeli hospitals, including one who died from his wounds on Wednesday. Others returned home after their conditions improved.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity under military protocol. He said the military’s focus in the Israeli-held Golan Heights was still on security and defense but that Israel had sent additional medical teams to the area, realizing that more wounded could soon arrive.

An IDF spokesman contacted by the Times of Israel would not confirm reports Thursday that the army has set up a full-blown field hospital along the Syrian border on the Golan Heights. In late February, a Foreign Ministry official confirmed that the project was indeed in the offing but did not say when it would be completed.

The UN now says that more than 1 million Syrians have become refugees because of the fighting. Most have sought refuge in Turkey and Jordan.