Six Syrian civilians who were moderate to seriously injured during the conflict in the southern region of Syria were transferred to Israel during a complex mission termed Otzevet Habashan on Shabbos. Among those treated and transferred to Israeli hospitals by the IDF during the operation, were four children aged 6-14. According to reports from Syria, the families of the children were all killed during the conflict that has erupted in the past few days in southern Syria. These six people were rushed to Israel in order to receive medical treatment.

IDF medical teams treated the injured in the field and then stabilized them enough to transport them to hospitals inside Israel for further treatment.

After receiving the alert notifying them of the urgent need for care, IDF medical teams from the northern command rushed to the Syrian border on the Golan Heights and awaited the arrival of their patients. The team treated them there in a makeshift medical clinic before transferring them to hospital.

An IDF spokesperson said that since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, there is a severe lack of medical infrastructure on the Syrian side of the border, which includes a lack of qualified doctors and medications. The IDF has attempted to provide humanitarian and medical aid without taking a side in the conflict. More than 3,500 men women and children have been brought to Israel or medical treatment since 2013.

An additional 1,300 Syrian children have received care in day clinics set up by the IDF since 2016, and another 6,000 ill people have received medical help in a field hospital that is being operated by the IDF in cooperation with international aid organizations in the southern Golan Heights.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)