Across enemy lines, wounded Syrians seek Israeli care

Source: Reuters

NAHARIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Not a hundred miles from Damascus, a Syrian rebel lies in a hospital bed, an Israeli sentry at the door. Nearby a Syrian mother sits next to her daughter, shot in the back by a sniper.

What started this year as a trickle is now a steady flow of Syrians, scores of civilians and fighters wounded in the civil war and being discreetly brought across the Golan frontline into Israel - a country with which Syria is formally still at war.

For all the advantages it brings of excellent medical care, it is a journey fraught with risk for those who fear the wrath of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

"There was one man, where I am from, who was treated in Israel. The regime forces killed his three brothers," the teenage girl's mother said. "They will kill my sons and my husband if they ever find out we were here."

For fear of retribution back home, Syrians in Israeli clinics who spoke to Reuters asked not to be named.


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