PHOTO: Druze marchers celebrate news of Monday’s attack on an Israeli ambulance
LATEST
- Report: Regime Releases 5 Detainees in Exchange for Reopened Water Supply to Damascus
- Almost 700 Detainees End Hunger Strike at Hama Prison
- At Least 15 Killed by Barrel Bomb on Aleppo Mosque
- Islamic State and Assad Forces Fighting for Jazal Gas Field Near Palmyra
Druze residents of the Golan Heights stopped an Israeli military ambulance late Monday as it transported two men wounded in Syria’s conflict, beating and killing one of the Syrians and injuring the other.
The wounded Syrian is in serious but stable condition after surgery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
It was the second time in 24 hours that Druze protesters stopped Israeli ambulances, further elevating the issue of the religious community’s position in the fight between Syrian rebels and the Assad regime.
The question of a Druze affiliation to either side in the four-year conflict has come to the fore in recent weeks with the rebel advance to the borders of Suweida Province in southern Syria, with its large Druze population. Men from the community have been involved in the effort to prevent the rebels from taking the al-Thala airbase; however, others in Suweida have protested against the regime, worried about forced conscription and the Syrian military’s movement of heavy weapons and tanks out of the province.
Earlier this month, tension was stoked further when a Jabhat al-Nusra unit killed 23 Druze in fighting in a village in Idlib Province in northwest Syria.
An Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Peter Lerner, said neither of the Syrians in the ambulance on Monday were from Jabhat al-Nusra.
Lerner said 150 people blocked and then attacked the ambulance as it traveled from the Druze village of Majdal Shams, near the UN armistice line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan. Rocks smashed the ambulance’s windshields before the crowd dragged out the Syrians and beat them. Israeli reporters said at least one of the Syrians was stripped naked, and images of the injuries were too harsh to publish.
Two Israeli soldiers were also hurt in the attack.
Israeli hospitals have treated about 1,600 Syrians in the last two years, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the military.
Ayoob Kara, a Druze member of Israel’s Knesset, said he had told leaders of the Golan community that rebel fighters were not allowed into Israel, “but this is something they refuse to acknowledge”.
Claimed footage of Druze in Majdal Shams celebrating news of the attack:
Syrian State news agency SANA has praised the “heroes” who attacked the “Zionist” ambulance and beat the “terrorists”, featuring a photo of the men on the ground.
Report: Regime Releases 5 Detainees in Exchange for Reopened Water Supply to Damascus
Pro-opposition sites report that the Assad regime released five detainees on Monday in a first step towards meeting conditions for reopening the water supply to Damascus.
Rebels in the Wadi Barada region cut off the main spring providing water to the capital and suburbs last Thursday. Conditions for restoration included “a total stop to bombing and sniping in all the villages of the area”, the release of all detainees from the region, and lifting of the blockade on food, medicine, fuel, and building materials.
Negotiations between the regime and rebels are ongoing, the head of the Wadi Barada Media Center said.
Almost 700 Detainees End Hunger Strike at Hama Prison
Almost 700 inmates at the Hama Central Prison ended their week-long hunger strike on Monday, following promises from the regime to revisit the recent cases of dozens of prisoners sentenced to death or life in prison.
“Promises made to the prisoners include a visit with the Minister of Justice after Ramadan, a national reconciliation for those sentenced to jail time, and revisiting the death sentences issued by Judge Ridha Musa, the head of the Terrorism Court,” said Jawad al-Hamawi, the direcctor of the pro-opposition Hama Revolutionaries Union.
The Terrorism Court recently issues sentences to 45 detainees ranging from 12 years in prison to death.
At Least 15 Killed by Barrel Bomb on Aleppo Mosque
At least 16 people, including two children, have been killed in the regime’s barrel-bombing of an Aleppo mosque during evening prayers on Monday.
#Syria, At least 15 people killed in a barrel bomb that targeted a mosque during Maghrib prayer in #Aleppo. pic.twitter.com/hFKAZOgPy4
— Hadi Albahra (@hadialbahra) June 23, 2015
The attack in the al-Ansari neighborhood also wounded 20 people, several critically.
More than 3,000 civilians have been killed by barrel bombs since 2012, according to Amnesty International.
The Foreign Ministry said in letters to the UN on Monday that countries seeking action against the barrel-bombing and civilian deaths are “shedding crocodile tears…to cover the crimes of terrorists”.
More than 70 nations are calling for an end to the “systematic use” of barrel bombs.
The imam of the bombed Aleppo mosque after the attack:
Islamic State and Assad Forces Fighting for Jazal Gas Field Near Palmyra
The Islamic State and Syrian military are reportedly battling near the Jazal gas field, close to the historic city of Palmyra that was taken by the militants last month.
There are conflicting claims over the state of the fight for Jazal, which feeds pipelines that supply the power plants in Damascus Province and Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast. Some accounts say the Islamic State is on the offensive, although they have been prevented from taking the field by ground resistance and airstrikes. Pro-Assad outlets assert that the Syrian forces are advancing and are only 9 km (5 miles) from Palmyra.
The Islamic State took gas and oil fields and the T3 pumping station during their march to Palmyra in May.
