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Tens of thousands of Syrians have arrived near the frontier with
the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the past month, fleeing a
rapidly advancing offensive which has defeated rebels across a
swathe of territory near Jordan and Israel.
"Go back before something bad happens. If you want us to be able
to help you, go back," an Israeli army officer on the Israeli
side of a frontier fence told the crowd in Arabic through a
megaphone. "Get a move on."
The offensive has triggered the single biggest displacement of
the war, with several hundred thousand people uprooted. Both
Israel and Jordan have said they will not allow Syrians to cross
into their territory.
Israel, which seized the Golan in the 1967 Middle East War, has
given humanitarian aid to refugees in encampments close to a
1974 Israeli-Syrian disengagement line. Many of the displaced
are sheltering within the disengagement zone that is monitored
by a U.N. force.
The Syrians who approached the frontier fence stopped some 200
meters (yards) away, before an Israeli soldier told them to
leave.
"You are on the border of the State of Israel. Go back, we don't
want to hurt you," the soldier shouted in Arabic through a
loudspeaker at the crowd, live Reuters TV footage showed.
The crowd, which included women and children, then walked back
slowly toward the refugee encampment. Some stopped mid-way and
waved white cloths in the direction of the Israeli frontier.
The Russian-backed offensive has advanced swiftly, unopposed by
President Bashar al-Assad's foreign adversaries. The United
States, which once armed the southern rebels, told them not to
expect it to intervene as the attack got underway last month.
A witness on the Syrian side of the Golan frontier said the
sound of bombardment was drawing ever nearer. The United Nations
said last week up to 160,000 Syrians had fled to Quneitra
province, some in close proximity to the Golan area.
GOVERNMENT FORCES CELEBRATE
Israel has threatened a harsh response to any attempt by Syrian
forces to deploy in the disengagement zone, complicating the
government offensive as it draws closer to the frontier.
Israel does not want its enemies Iran and Hezbollah, both allies
of Assad, to move forces near its border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking alongside U.S.
President Donald Trump on Monday, cited the need to restore the
situation along the Golan borders to the state that prevailed
before the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011.
At least 14 people, including five children and some women, were
killed when Syrian government forces dropped a barrel bomb on
the village of Ain al-Tineh 10 km (6 miles) from the Golan
frontier, according to UOSSM, a medical aid charity that
operates in the area.
Ahmad al-Dbis, UOSSM safety and security manager, said another
35 people had been wounded in the attack which he said had hit a
school. The casualties had fled to the village from nearby parts
of the southwest.
Syrian state TV broadcast from a hilltop captured from rebels on
Monday and overlooking the Golan frontier. Government fighters
waved rifles and held aloft pictures of Assad as they celebrated
on camera from the location, al-Haara hill.
"We will liberate all Syria," said one of the soldiers.
(Reporting by Rami Amichay and Tom Perry in Beirut; Writing by
Tom Perry in Beirut and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by
Raissa Kasolowsky)
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