FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

A Syrian Fighter in an Israeli Hospital (Excerpt from 'The War Next Door')

In this excerpt, VICE News visits the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, which is unique for its proximity to the international borders with Lebanon and Syria, and where Syrian fighters are being treated.

In August, al Nusra Front jihadists took control of Syria's side of the border crossing with Israel and kidnapped over 40 United Nations peacekeepers — who have since been released.

But al Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-affiliate, isn't Israel's only threat from Syria. President Bashar al-Assad's military, in a possible effort to bait Israel into its civil war to shore up Arab sympathies, has been lobbing mortars across the border. Just a few weeks ago, the Israeli military shot down a Syrian plane flying over the Golan Heights — the first time it has done so since the 1980s.

Advertisement

In this excerpt, VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky visits the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, which is unique for its proximity to the international borders with Lebanon and Syria, and for treating victims of hostilities and soldiers injured on both sides of the border.

Watch the full length "The War Next Door"

Watch the extra scene "Bird-Watching in a War Zone"

Read "The Explosive End of Israel's 'Quietest Border'"

Subscribe to VICE News on YouTube

Follow VICE News on Twitter

Like VICE News on Facebook