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Jerusalem (AFP) May 15, 2011 Israel's army accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of "organising" Sunday's violence on the Golan Heights as a way to divert attention from pro-democracy protests sweeping his country. "The Syrian authorities organised this violent incident in order to divert world opinion away from what is happening in their cities," army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitz told AFP. Israeli troops wounded "dozens" of people when they opened fire at protesters from Syria forcing their way onto the disputed Golan Heights on Sunday, the military said. The army said soldiers opened fire when "thousands of Syrian civilians breached the Israel-Syria border near the Israeli village of Majdal Shams." But Leibovitz later clarified that although there were thousands of protesters, only dozens had managed to cross the frontier, in an incident she described as "very serious and violent." "Thousands of protesters from the Syrian side of the border attacked our troops with stones and dozens of them entered into Israel," she said, toning down an army statement that "thousands" had crossed. "Our forces unleashed warning shots to keep them back" from Israeli-annexed territory on the plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, Leibovitz said. This was "a very serious and violent incident which threatens the security of the inhabitants of Israel and violates its territory," she said.
earlier related report "We firmly denounce the criminal Israeli actions against our people in the Golan Heights, Palestine and southern Lebanon that left several people dead and wounded," the foreign ministry said. "Israel will have to bear full responsibility for its actions." The official news agency SANA said two people were killed and 170 were wounded on the Golan Heights. The Lebanese army for its part said Israeli gunfire had killed four people on the volatile border with Lebanon. The shootings took place as thousands of mainly Palestinian refugees demonstrated in both countries to denounce the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. "The action by the Palestinian people today is due to the fact that Israel does not recognise nor does it implement international law and continues to violate (people's) rights and their land to avoid a just and global peace," the foreign ministry statement said. Syrian television carried live images of the clashes and aired footage showing some of the wounded being evacuated.
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Egypt army to 'release detained activists'Cairo, Egypt (AFP) May 13, 2011 Egypt's ruling military council said on Friday it would release all activists arrested during March and April protests. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said "measures will be taken to immediately release all those honourable youth of the revolution who were detained during March and April," in a statement on its Facebook page. Protests have continued in Cairo's Tahrir Square sinc ... read more |
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