"Anyone who tries to cross the border will be killed," Israeli soldiers shouted through loudspeakers at the crowd of several hundred on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights who rallied to a Facebook call to march to the frontier on the 44th anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Middle East war.

As darkness fell and heavy mist descended on the high plateau, some protesters lit bonfires close to the fence and said they would remain in the area, Syrian television reported. Israel's Channel 1 in Majdal Shams said most of the protesters had dispersed as the cold night air took hold.

Israel captured Syria's Golan Heights in that conflict, as well as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians want to establish a state.

Israel has accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of permitting the Golan protests to try to divert international attention from his suppression of the popular revolt against his rule.

Reuters