Damascus accuses Israel of killing former member of Syrian parliament

CAIRO (Reuters) – Syria accused Israeli forces on Saturday of shooting dead Medhat Al-Saleh, a former member of Syrian parliament who had spent 12 years in jail in Israel, state-run television Al-Ekhbariya quoted the cabinet as saying.

Syrian state news agency SANA said Al-Saleh “was martyred as the Israeli enemy targeted him with fire while returning home” on Saturday in Ain al-Tineh, a village inside Syria that is near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian government denounced “this cowardly criminal act”.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the military does not comment on foreign reports.

The government said Saleh had spent 12 years in prison in Israel after being jailed in 1985 on charges of “resistance” to Israeli authorities. He later served in the Syrian parliament.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Moataz Abdelrahiem and Yasmin Hussien; Editing by Timothy Heritage)