Israel closes field hospital for wounded Syrians

Israel has closed a field hospital set up near the Syrian border to treat the sick and those wounded in the conflict ravaging the neighbouring country, the army said on Friday.

The day clinic was set up in August 2017 and since then had provided medical care to some 6,800 Syrians, the army said in a statement.

"Forces began evacuating and folding the clinic's compound," the statement said, without explaining why it was being shut down after a year.

The field hospital was established with Friend Ships, an American charity, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Israel has refused to accept refugees, instead treating the sick and wounded in its northern hospitals and clinics before returning the patients to their own country.

The hospital was set up "in response to the lack of proper medical options in Syria", with the army "maintaining a non-intervention policy in the conflict", the statement said.

Although Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the conflict, a series of airstrikes which have killed Iranians in Syria have been attributed to Israel.

Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. The two countries technically remain at war. 

Israel has been on high alert since 19 June, when Syrian regime forces launched an offensive to retake southern Daraa and Quneitra provinces, the latter of which includes the divided Golan Heights.

Much of the area has been recaptured by Syrian regime troops who are now mopping up the remaining pockets of rebel and jihadist territory.

On Wednesday, an Israeli air strike killed seven militants believed to be linked to the Islamic State group who were seeking to infiltrate the country from the Syrian Golan Heights.

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