Israel Sends Aid to Syria Day After Shots Fired

 http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news.php?Itemid=11461

Moshe Ya'alon on Tuesday announced that Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Syria during a visit to the Golan, reports AFP.

"We've sent food, water, baby food and other humanitarian products," said Ya'alon, adding "we cannot remain idle when civilians are being confronted by a humanitarian crisis."

The Defense Minister's visit came after IDF soldiers were fired on from a Syrian army outpost on Monday. The IDF returned fire and identified a direct hit on a Syrian soldier. Earlier on Monday a Syrian mortar shell fell just outside Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights.

Regarding the exchange of fire, Ya'alon commented "Monday's incident was started by a Syrian soldier who fired at an Israeli military position...

Whoever questions our sovereignty will pay the price."


In September UN Mideast Envoy Robert Serry warned that the ongoing Syrian fighting on the Golan Heights risked drawing Israel into the war.
Syrian's humanitarian crisis has been pointed out in recent studies that found the war, now entering its third year, has left over 120,000 dead, among them 11,000 children.

Furthermore the crisis has created 2.2 million Syrian refugees, more than half of whom are children that in large proportions are working to provide for their families and missing out on schooling.

The US has also actively been providing humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria. In August, US President Barack Obama pledged over $195 million in humanitarian assistance in a statement timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.  (Is anyone surprised that Obama would do it on this Muslim date?  "Not I!" said the little Red Chana!)