Syrian state media praised Druze villagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday for attacking an Israeli military ambulance they said was carrying two insurgents from a group fighting Assad.
Assad hails Druze lynching of Syrian wounded rebels Israel was trying to treat demonstrates the ugliness of the Assad regime. Assad savagery knows no bound.
The Israeli army said one of the men in the ambulance was killed as a result of the attack it described as a lynching.
The incident in the Golan village of Majdal Shams overlooking Syrian territory was the second attack by Druze on an Israeli army ambulance in less than 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon pledged Tuesday to track down Druze rioters in the occupied Golan Heights responsible for the “lynching” of a wounded Syrian being transported to a hospital.
Two Syrian men were being taken to hospital late Monday when dozens of Druze in the town of Majdal Shams stoned their ambulance, forcing it to stop and dragging the wounded men from the vehicle.
The mob then beat one of the men, who was later pronounced dead, and seriously wounded the other. An Israeli soldier and another officer with the ambulance were also lightly wounded. After the incident, Assad hails Druze lynching.
Israel has a policy of providing humanitarian assistance to wounded Syrians who seek help by crossing over to the Jewish state and has vowed to maintain the practice.
Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio, Brigadier-General Moti Almoz said:
“About 100 people stormed the wounded people and as a result of this contact the injured men’s condition deteriorated and one of them died – this was a lynching, yes.”
He said the men in the ambulance were Syrian citizens injured in Syrian civil war fighting, but did not explicitly say whether they were fighters or civilians.
Insurgents last week launched a new offensive against the Syrian military and allied militia in the southwestern province of Quneitra, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Nusra Front fighters earlier this month shot dead at least 20 Druze villagers in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is why when Assad hails Druze lynching, he is trying to get the Druze to fight on his side.
Reuters and AFP contributed to this article.
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