Aug 3, 2018

Israel has closed a field hospital set up near the Syrian border to treat the sick and those wounded in the conflict ravaging the neighbouring country, the army said Friday.

The day clinic was set up in August 2017 and since then had provided medical care to some 6,800 Syrians, the army said in a statement.

"Forces began evacuating and folding the clinic's compound," the statement said, without explaining why it was being shut down after a year.

The field hospital was established with Friend Ships, an American charity, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Israel has refused to accept refugees, instead treating the sick and wounded in its northern hospitals and clinics before returning the patients to t