An Israeli soldier speaks over a megaphone to people which stand next to the border fence between Israel and Syria from its Syrian side as it is seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the Israeli Syrian border July 17, 2018.
Dozens of Syrians approached the Israeli frontier on the Golan Heights on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to seek help or sanctuary from a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive, before turning back after a warning from Israeli forces.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have arrived near the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the past month, fleeing a rapidly advancing offensive which has defeated the opposition across a swathe of territory near Jordan and Israel.
"Go back before something bad happens. If you want us to be able to help you, go back," an Israeli army officer on the Israeli side of a frontier fence told the crowd in Arabic through a megaphone. "Get a move on."
At least ten civilians, the majority of whom were children, were killed after a barrel bomb attack carried out by the Syrian regime and its allies targeted a school in the town of Ain Teineh, in the southwest province of Quneitra.The Syrian regime army and its allies have taken control of the strategic hill overlooking the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as Assad pushes forward with an offensive to seize the remaining parts of the southwest from opposition fighters.The region has been heavily bombed by Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes in the past two days as the army has moved closer to the Israeli border after gaining control of most of Daraa province in a military excursion that began last June.The regime offensive has caused a major displacement crisis in Daraa, with an estimated 350,000 civilians fleeing the province in recent days towards areas near the Jordanian border.Syrian civilians approach Israeli frontier fence in Golan HeightsThe opposition-held towns of Qusaiba, Sweisa and Ain Teineh were being bombarded into submission by the Assad regime and its allies.Following peace talks held last year in Astana, Daraa and Quneitra were both designated as “de-escalation zones” in which acts of aggression are prohibited. The opposition remains in control of most of the border-adjacent Quneitra province, however, the Daesh terror group still maintains a presence in the southern border pocket of Tasil.Iranian advisors still in southern Syria: Rouhani envoy
Syrian regime barrel bomb attack on school kills 10 civilians in Quneitra
The offensive has triggered the single biggest displacement of the war, with several hundred thousand people uprooted. Both Israel and Jordan have said they will not allow Syrians to cross into their territory.
Israel, which seized the Golan in the 1967 Middle East War, has given humanitarian aid to refugees in encampments close to a 1974 Israeli-Syrian disengagement line. Many of the displaced are sheltering within the disengagement zone that is monitored by a U.N. force.
The Syrians who approached the frontier fence stopped some 200 metres (yards) away, before an Israeli soldier told them to leave.
Dozens of people walked on Tuesday from Syrian refugee encampments on the Golan Heights to Israel's nearby frontier fence, where they stopped some 200 metres (yards) away and were ordered by an Israeli soldier to turn back."You are on the border of the State of Israel. Go back, we don't want to hurt you," the soldier shouted in Arabic through a loudspeaker at the crowd, live Reuters TV footage showed.The Syrian army is pressing a Russian-backed offensive against oppositions in the area."Go back before something bad happens. If you want us to be able to help you, go back," an Israeli army officer on the Israeli side of a frontier fence told the crowd in Arabic through a megaphone. "Get a move on."A witness on the Syrian side of the frontier said people were seeking shelter wherever they could as the offensive drew closer to their location.The Syrians who approached the frontier fence stopped some 200 metres (yards) away, before an Israeli soldier told them to leave.Video: Syrian civilians approach Israeli frontier fence in Golan Heights"You are on the border of the State of Israel. Go back, we don't want to hurt you," the soldier shouted in Arabic through a loudspeaker at the crowd, live Reuters TV footage showed.The crowd, which included women and children, then walked back slowly towards the refugee encampment. Some stopped mid-way and waved white cloths in the direction of the Israeli frontier.
Syrian civilians approach Israeli frontier fence in Golan Heights
"You are on the border of the State of Israel. Go back, we don't want to hurt you," the soldier shouted in Arabic through a loudspeaker at the crowd, live Reuters TV footage showed.
The crowd, which included women and children, then walked back slowly towards the refugee encampment. Some stopped mid-way and waved white cloths in the direction of the Israeli frontier.
The Russian-backed offensive has advanced swiftly, unopposed by President Bashar al-Assad's foreign adversaries. The United States, which once armed the southern opposition, told them not to expect it to intervene as the attack got underway last month.
A witness on the Syrian side of the Golan frontier said the sound of bombardment was drawing ever nearer. The United Nations said last week up to 160,000 Syrians had fled to Quneitra province, some in close proximity to the Golan area.
Dozens of people walked on Tuesday from Syrian refugee encampments on the Golan Heights to Israel's nearby frontier fence, where they stopped some 200 metres (yards) away and were ordered by an Israeli soldier to turn back.
Syrian civilians approach Israeli frontier fence in Golan Heights
Israel has threatened a harsh response to any attempt by Syrian forces to deploy in the disengagement zone, complicating the government offensive as it draws closer to the frontier.
Israel does not want its enemies Iran and Hezbollah, both allies of Assad, to move forces near its border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking alongside U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, cited the need to restore the situation along the Golan borders to the state that prevailed before the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011.
At least 14 people, including five children and some women, were killed when Syrian government forces dropped a barrel bomb on the village of Ain al-Tineh 10 km (6 miles) from the Golan frontier, according to UOSSM, a medical aid charity that operates in the area.
Ahmad al-Dbis, UOSSM safety and security manager, said another 35 people had been wounded in the attack which he said had hit a school. The casualties had fled to the village from nearby parts of the southwest.
Syrian state TV broadcast from a hilltop captured from the opposition on Monday and overlooking the Golan frontier. Government fighters waved rifles and held aloft pictures of Assad as they celebrated on camera from the location, al-Haara hill.