Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers shot and lightly wounded a Jordanian arms smuggler attempting to cross the Israel-Jordan border on Wednesday morning.
Police officers carried out standard arrest procedures after two Jordanian citizens were detected by the Israeli military trying to enter Israel in the northern Jordan Valley, near Kibbutz Gesher, according to Israeli media reports.
When the suspects attempted to flee, Israeli forces opened fire, lightly wounding a 49-year-old Jordanian citizen in the leg.
The second suspect managed to escape back to Jordan. The wounded man was arrested and evacuated to the Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias in the Galilee.
Nine pistols, six rifles and other armaments were seized in the operation, according to a statement from an IDF spokesperson. No Israeli forces were injured.
Flares set off by the military during the incident caused a fire to erupt at Naharayim, along the border. Israeli firefighting planes rushed to the scene and extinguished the flames on both sides of the border.
