(18 Feb 2014) Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday visited a field hospital which has been treating Syrians wounded in the ongoing conflict across the border, and delivered a message to world leaders that Iran stands behind the violence.
His remarks came as leaders from six world powers gathered in Vienna to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.
Netanyahu said the Golan heights, territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, was the dividing line between "the good and the bad."
"The bad is what is happening on the Syrian side of this border where Syrian civilians including children, whose screams we're hearing today are being butchered, are being pummelled, are being hit by the air with terrible bombs by the Assad regime," he said.
Netanyahu said Iran is arming the Syrian regime and the wounded are the "the true face of Iran."
Iran is a close ally of the Syrian government and has sent fighters to Syria.
Netanyahu asked who was '"supplying the bombs" to Syria.
"Who's supplying these weapons? Iran. Who's giving the instruction? Iran. Who's giving the backing for this butchery? Iran. That's the bad, here's the good, right here," he said.
Israel provides medical treatment for wounded Syrians that reach its border in civilian hospitals and army field hospitals.
Israel considers Syria an enemy state, yet it has granted temporary entry to some of the wounded.
In the hospital, Netanyahu greeted a young boy named Adnan and another Syrian man, who thanked him for the medical treatment.
Assad enjoys unwavering support from his ally Iran.
Netanyahu has spent years warning the world against the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, calling it an existential threat due to Iranian references over the destruction of Israel, its support of hostile militant groups on Israel's borders and its development of missiles capable of reaching Israel and beyond.
The nuclear talks in Vienna are designed to build on a first-step deal that came into effect last month and commits Iran to initial curbs on its nuclear program in return for some easing of sanctions.
Iran insists it is not interested in producing nuclear weapons but the six powers want Tehran to back its words with concessions.
They want an agreement that will leave Iran with little capacity to ramp up its nuclear program into weapons-making mode with enriched uranium or plutonium, which can used for the fissile core of a missile.
More than 130,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which began as largely peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011.
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