JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israel Defense Forces ambulance carrying wounded Syrians to hospitals was attacked by Druze residents of Israel.
The Druze-Israelis asked to check whether the wounded being carried in the ambulances on Monday were members of rebel forces who have been locked in a civil war with Syrian government troops for more than four years, according to Israeli media reports.
In the Druze village of Hurfish, the residents blocked the path of the ambulance and threw stones at it. The ambulance managed to evade the crowd and took its injured to the hospital in Nahariyah, in the northern Galilee.
Israel treats wounded from the civil war in the field and at local hospitals regardless of what side they are fighting for. More than 1,600 wounded Syrians have been treated in Israeli hospitals during the civil war, according to the IDF.
The rebels have threatened the lives of Druze residents of Syria. Druze soldiers in the IDF have threatened to take off their uniforms over the conflict, Haaretz reported Monday.
Last week, thousands of Druze-Israelis demonstrated on behalf of their Syrian counterparts, 20 of whom were murdered by ISIS the previous week. The Druze-Israeli community announced that it had collected $2.6 million for the Druze-Syrians to purchase weapons and urged the Israeli government to offer additional assistance.
