The geopolitical dynamics along the Syrian-Israeli border have focused on the degree to which the Syrian conflict has endangered the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission. But the violence has more dramatically impacted – and in far greater numbers – innocent Syrian civilians.

Israel has made concentrated efforts to help mitigate the impact of the violence on civilians in the area. Roughly 50 victims of the conflict have been transferred to Israel for treatment.

“We treat patients regardless of religion, race, nationality, and give the best care we can provide,” Ziv Medical Center director Dr. Oscar Embon tells ISRAEL21c.

Some 30 patients (80 percent of the total) have been treated at Ziv, and the remaining Syrian victims have been cared for by Western Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, Rambam Medical Center and Poriah Hospital near Tiberias.

“For me, they are human beings in need of treatment. I’m not thinking of them as enemies,” says Embon. “I’m glad as a physician that we have the opportunity to exercise humanistic principles. I’m very glad to be able to do what we’re taught to do.”

In a much-publicized case, a Syrian doctor wrote a note asking Israeli doctors to save his patient, because he did not have the means to treat him effectively in Syria.

In another case, Israeil doctors saved a young Syrian girl who had been born with heart defect.

[Photo: Western Galilee Medical Center]