Israel says Damascus exaggerating death toll

The Israeli army said on Monday that 10 people had been killed during mass protests along the ceasefire line with Syria, dismissing a toll of 23 dead cited by Damascus as "exaggerated."

Reuters/Hamad Almakt

Hundreds of protesters from Syria tried to break through two sections of the frontier onto the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, prompting Israeli soldiers to open fire causing a disputed number of deaths and injuries.

Syrian state television said 23 people were killed and some 350 wounded by Israeli gunfire, with all of the casualties falling on the Syrian side of no-man's land.

But an Israeli military spokesperson said on Monday that Israel counted 10 dead, all of whom died when a number of Syrian landmines exploded in Quneitra after being set off when Molotov cocktails were hurled by the protesters.

Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovitz said troops had only resorted to live fire after first calling out a warning in Arabic, firing tear gas and then by firing warning shots in the air.

"The live fire was specific to people who had the intention of tearing down the fence... or crossing it," she said, adding "You should be very careful with the numbers since they have a very clear goal to divert the attention from what's going on [internally] to the
Israel-Syria border,"  She was referring to attempts by President Assad's regime to crush a popular revolt which has left more than 1,100 civilians dead over the past 12 weeks.