Human rights groups claim 780 protesters have been gunned down in Syria since the start of the democracy protests in March.
Syria sent in tanks to quash the democratic uprising this week.
But that didn’t stop the Assad regime from condemning Israel today for firing on protesters who stormed across their border from Syria. 16 protesters were killed today as they tried to storm the Israeli border for Nakba Day.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Syria condemned on Sunday Israel’s “criminal activities” in the Golan Heights,Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon where Israeli forces had fired to disperse pro-Palestinian protests.
Israeli troops shot at protesters in three separate locations to prevent crowds from crossing Israeli frontier lines.
State news agency SANA quoted the foreign ministry as saying it called on the international community to hold Israel responsible for the incidents, the deadliest such confrontation along the borders in years.
UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) urged the parties involved in the shooting incident on Sunday at the Lebanese-Israeli border to show “maximum restraint” to prevent casualties.
Spokesman Andrea Tenenti said UNIFIL was in contact with the Lebanese army and the Israeli military. Security sources said four people had been killed after Israeli forces fired in the air to repel Palestinians demonstrating at Maroun a-Ras on the border.
“Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians approached the fence at Maroun a-Ras. The Lebanese army did not stop them. When IDF saw them attempting to destroy the fence, they took steps to stop them,” Brig.-Gen. Yoav “Poli” Mordechai told Channel 10 News.
Related… American Power blog has more video and photos from today’s Arab protests.
