
The casualty - who doesn't look older than 20 - is losing blood fast. He has been shot in the intestines and the liver, and has a deep laceration in his left ankle. After putting him on an emergency drip, the commandos stretcher him back to the armoured car and head back to Israel. But this wounded man is not an Israeli soldier, or even an Israeli citizen. He is an Islamic militant. And his rescue forms part of an extraordinary humanitarian mission that is fraught with danger and has provoked deep controversy on all sides.
Almost every night, Israeli troops run secret missions to save the lives of Syrian fighters, all of whom are sworn enemies of the Jewish state. MailOnline has gained unprecedented access to this secretive and hazardous operation, embedding with the commandos to obtain exclusive footage, and interviewing the medics who are obliged to treat Syrian militants, some of whom openly admit that they intend to kill Israelis.
Israel insists that these treacherous nightly rescues are purely humanitarian, and that it can only hope to 'win hearts and minds' in Syria. But analysts suggest the Jewish state has in fact struck a deadly 'deal with the devil' - offering support to the Sunni militants who fight the Syrian ruler Assad in the hope of containing its arch enemies Hezbollah and Iran.
"In giving medical support to these fighters, Israel has done a deal with the devil," says Kamal Alam, research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Comment: Let's not mince any words: they're pretty much ALL 'Salafist-Jihadist' terrorists/mercenaries.
It is unclear how the two enemies arrange the rescue. All that has been disclosed is that word reaches Israeli forces that casualties have been dumped at the border, intelligence establishes that it is not a trap, and the commandos are sent in.
In the three years that Israel has been running these operations, it has saved the lives of more than 2,000 Syrians - at least 80 per cent of whom are male and of fighting age - at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7 million).

Comment: ...because the Israeli government either doesn't care who is a 'moderate' or who isn't, or because it understands perfectly well that there is no such thing as 'moderate terrorists'.
"My dream is that one day, the Red Cross will say, 'thanks guys, we'll take it from here, you go back to your unit and take care of injured Israelis,'" said Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Malka, commander of the medical branch of the Golan Brigade.
"I am proud of what we are doing here, but it is a great burden. For every Syrian in hospital, there is one less bed for an Israeli. One day we will have to make a choice between an Israeli life and a Syrian one. When that happens it will be hard, but I have to say my first duty will be to Israelis."
Comment: Indeed, this is being done at the expense of providing healthcare to Israelis, who are suffering from cutbacks to public spending in Israel.

Comment: Indeed, Palestinians are familiar with Israeli 'humanitarianism':
A spokesman pointed out that about 20 per cent of the Syrians treated by Israel are civilians. MailOnline witnessed Israeli army medics treating a sick two-month-old baby and a middle-aged man who had suffered a heart attack, both of whom were evacuated across the Syrian border by the commandos.
The rescue of the baby girl was particularly poignant. Her older brother had died of a rare bone disease, and her mother feared that she was showing symptoms of the same disorder. Distraught, the woman decided to brave the dangers of the border and appeal to the enemy for help.
The baby was treated under cover of darkness in the back of an armoured car, by Israeli military medics with rifles slung over their shoulders. They were able to ascertain that she was suffering from a high fever and gave the mother some much-needed medication.
Then mother and infant were escorted by heavily-armed combat troops back to the Syrian warzone. Diagnosing the bone disorder would have to wait.
Comment: No chance Israel is taking in any refugees.

Comment: What an utterly bizarre way to "improve its image". Did someone really think that showing the world it is providing medical assistant and military cover to the Islamic terrorists/mercenaries chopping off heads in Syria and riddling Parisians full of holes was a good idea??
An Israeli Government spokesman rejected these claims as 'absurd'.

Comment: Ok, but that's in the context of strangling their country.
But analysts maintain that in the 'tough neighbourhood' of the Middle East, it is rare to give something for nothing. MailOnline was given access to interview Syrian militants at the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed, northern Israel, one of a number of hospitals at which they are treated, on condition that their identities are not revealed. If other Syrians discovered they had received medical care in the hated Israel, they would be in danger of execution.

Another rebel, 20-year-old Mohammed, whose leg had been all but destroyed by fire from a Russian-made 'Dushka' heavy machine gun, agreed. "Thanks to Israel for letting me in," he said, eyeing the surgical frame supporting his shattered leg.
Comment: Those evil Russians providing weapons to the Syrian Army trying to stamp out "the most potent threat to the world since the Third Reich"! Have they no shame? These nice Islamic terrorists just want to murder Westerners and infidels with Israeli government support, but those damn Ruskies keep getting in the way.

"We are trying to build peace with our neighbours and win their hearts and minds," he said. "There are now 2,000 Syrians who have had their lives saved by Israel. We hope that this will change their life position. In the future, they will be more friendly to Israel and they won't want to fight us."
Comment: No worries there, Dr. Lerner. ISIS/al-Qaeda showed no inclination to do so in the past either.


Asked about the fighters' promises not to fight against Israel in the future, he said: "I don't trust any one of them. They grew up believing Israel is their enemy, Israel is the devil. You can't change their minds by taking care of them for two weeks."
Other Israelis are more bitter. In June, two wounded Syrian jihadis were attacked by a lynch-mob while they were being transported to hospital by ambulance. One was beaten to death, while the other suffered serious injuries.
Six weeks later, two members of the Israeli Druze community - an Arabic-speaking people found in Israel and across the Levant - were charged with murder. It emerged that the militants were suspected members of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate who had attacked Druze villages in Syria.
According to one senior Israeli army officer, Israel's humanitarian mission may also be part of a security strategy, aiming to "keep the northern border quiet and our soldiers safe" by using medical treatment as an "insurance policy".
"The Syrians will not strike us because they know we'd stop helping them," Lieutenant Colonel Malka told MailOnline.
"They are desperate for our medical help. They have no doctors, not even a vet. Once we treated a man who had been stitched up by a friend with a needle and thread. If they want our help to continue, they know they must stop anybody from attacking our soldiers and civilians."
Comment: If you've been wondering all these years how a proxy army can sustain itself for so long, and rationalized that they must have had outside help, this article is your answer.

Others, however, believe that Israel is also pursuing more hard-headed geopolitical goals. 'Above all, Israel wants to prevent Hezbollah from gaining control on the other side of the border," said Michael Stephens, Research Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). "The Sunni militants are fighting Hezbollah, so for now they share the same objectives as Israel. That's why we're seeing this odd cooperation between people who would be enemies under any other circumstances."
Comment: Interesting how the interests of the 'Jewish State' and the 'Islamic State' converge.

Analysts agree that the powerful Shia alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Assad's troops is an existential threat to Israel, far outweighing any danger from the Sunni Islamist rebels (who are backed by Saudi Arabia, understood to have a form of working relationship in some areas with Israel). Significantly, an Israeli spokesman confirmed that no medical support has been provided to any militants from the Shia alliance.
Comment: So this has absolutely nothing to do with 'humanitarianism'.

Comment: A deal with the devil indeed.

Humanitarian medical assistance, on the other hand, which is also offered to civilians, raises fewer objections on both sides, while fulfilling mutual strategic objectives.
This is where the commandos come in. For these young soldiers, the night is yet young; taking Syrian casualties to hospital was just the first half of their duties. As the night wears on, an ambulance draws up carrying a patched-up militant ready to be taken back to war.

MailOnline is allowed to film on condition that the militant is not asked his allegiances. When he is wheeled out of the ambulance, it is clear that despite intensive medical treatment, he is still very unwell. One of his legs is in plaster and the other is scarred with shrapnel pockmarks, and his right eye is covered with a bandage. He looks disoriented and afraid as he is transferred into an armoured vehicle and driven off into the darkness.
From Israel's point of view, this is the conclusion of another successful humanitarian mission, which now take place nightly as the conflict in Syria burns on. At the same time, however, many believe that this man's treatment - and the care given to thousands of Syrians like him - is an important, if unlikely, investment in Israel's security.
...before his hysterical meeting with Netanyahu, which is scheduled to happen real soon.
These are interesting times indeed.