Syrian let into Israel for medical treatment

A Syrian man was allowed into Israel for medical treatment Monday evening after being injured during ongoing battles between rebels and forces loyal to Damascus near the border with the Golan Heights.

The man, who had been shot in the hip, was transferred to Sieff Hospital in Safed.

It is not known if the man was a civilian or was fighting alongside rebel forces or with the Syrian army. The Israel Defense Forces does not generally release the names or identities of Syrians let into the country.

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said the man was to be returned to Syria after being treated.

He was expected to undergo surgery overnight, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel has let several injured fighters into the country for medical treatment over the last several months, but has classified the measures as humanitarian actions that do not change Jerusalem’s closed border policy with Syria.

Soldiers stationed along the border have also administered first aid to wounded Syrians.

Opposition forces in Syria have waged a two-year struggle to oust Syrian president Bashar Assad, with over 70,000 dead and over a million displaced in the civil war.

At a United Nations Security Council session on the conflict last week, Syrian envoy Bashar al-Ja’afari accused Israel of aiding the rebels by allowing opposition fighters into Syria for treatment and then returning them to Syria.

“Israel [has a] partnership with Salafi, Takfiri and terrorist groups, allowing those armed groups to cross the separation line in the occupied Syrian Golan and treating their wounded in Israeli hospitals and returning them to the Syria territory through the separation line anew,” Ja’afari said.