Israeli Police Arrest Several Suspects in IDF Ambulance Attacks

Police in Israel’s Northern District conducted a serious of arrests Tuesday night, detaining suspects in two attacks on the ambulances of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that resulted in the death of one Syrian national, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Monday night, a crowd of up to 150 people, reportedly members of the ethnoreligious esoteric Druze group, conducted what media sources have referred to as a "well-planned ambush" on an IDF ambulance near the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. One of the two Syrian nationals in the ambulance is said to have been killed, while the other one was seriously injured. Members of the ambulance crew who tried to protect the patients sustained light injuries.

In an earlier incident on the same day, assailants set up a roadblock and proceeded to throw rocks at an ambulance transporting wounded Syrian nationals but failed to stop the vehicle.

According to the newspaper, on Tuesday night Northern District police carried out "a wave of arrests." The exact number of those detained was not specified.

According to local media, Israeli Druze communities are enraged by news of jihadist militants in Syria killing local Druze people. Many Druze leaders reportedly accuse the government of Israel of supporting the militants by providing their fighters with medical assistance.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, as the government is battling against several insurgent groups, including Islamic State jihadists. Israel has been treating wounded Syrian nationals since March 2011.

According to Israeli authorities, the health care is a form of humanitarian assistance. Since the start of the civil war in Syria, Israel is estimated to have treated some 1,600 Syrians.