Israeli troops today clashed with Arab protesters along three hostile borders, including the frontier with Syria, leaving 16 people dead and dozens more wounded in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations marking a Palestinian day of mourning for their defeat at Israel's hands in 1948.
Along Israel's border with Syria, thousands of protesters stormed the fence and hundreds burst through, pelting soldiers with stones, the military said. Soldiers guarding the border opened fire to stop them. Dozens were wounded and four were reported killed.
Israeli defence officials said the military had not expected protesters to try to breach the border and was caught by surprise.
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Violence: Eight people have been killed after clashes erupted along the Israel border with Syria
Overrun: Demonstrators cross from Syria into the annexed Golan Heights as part of the Nakba day - the official creation of the Israeli state in 1948
It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side, and Israeli officials accused Damascus of fomenting the violence in an attempt to divert attention from the deadly crackdown on protests within its borders against the rule of President Bashar Assad.
'The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention away from the brutal crackdown of their own citizens to incite against Israel,' said an Israeli military spokesman.
'Thousands of Syrian civilians breached the Israel-Syria border near the Israeli village of Majdal Shams.
'Israeli defence forces opened fire in order to prevent the violent rioters from illegally infiltrating Israeli territory. A number of rioters have infiltrated and are violently rioting in the village. From initial reports there are dozens of injured that are receiving medical care in a nearby hospital.'
In the deadliest incident, ten people were killed when they marched from inside Lebanon toward the border with Israel, according to Lebanese security officials. The Israeli military said troops opened fire when rioters attempted to break through the fence into Israel. Israeli defence officials also suggested the Lebanese army, which fired in the air to disperse the protesters, might have been responsible for some of the deaths.
Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, an Israeli military spokesman, said soldiers fired when demonstrators began vandalising the border fence.
The army was 'aware' of casualties on the other side, he said.
The Israeli military said 13 soldiers were lightly wounded in the Lebanon and Syria clashes.
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