Syrian-Israel Border Protests Shift Attention From Government Conflict

The Takeaway
The World

At least twenty people lay dead at the Israeli border at Golan Heights after Israeli troops opened fire on more than one thousand Syrian protesters who stormed the border. Officially the demonstrations were being held to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Arab defeat in the Mideast war. It was the second outbreak of deadly violence in the border region in the past month. But both Israeli officials and anti-regime activists in Syria are calling the border protests a sham and media stunt, instigated to draw attention away from the hard-handed government shutdown of protests within Syria. We are joined by journalists on both sides of the border: Isabel Kershner, is a reporter for The New York Times in Jerusalem. A correspondent working anonymously in Syria says the situation is much worse than is being reported to the outside.

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