JENIN, Palestinian Territories: Clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the occupied West Bank on Saturday killed one man, a medical source told AFP, with Hamas identifying him as a fighter.
Fighting is usually rare between militants and Palestinian Authority (PA) security personnel, who exercise limited authority in the Israeli-occupied territory.
But for more than a week, the northern West Bank city of Jenin has seen intense violence, after the PA — which coordinates security matters with Israel — had arrested several militants.
The medical source, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said one body was brought to Jenin’s Ibn Sina hospital on Saturday.
Several wounded people, both militants and PA personnel, also arrived at the hospital, said the source.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has presence in the West Bank too, identified the dead man as Yazid Jaaysa, saying he was a “resistance fighter.”
Palestinian media said Jaaysa was a member of Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is particularly active in the Jenin area.
The city and its adjacent refugee camp are a stronghold for armed factions who present themselves as a more effective resistance to the Israeli occupation in contrast to the PA.
AFPTV footage showed armed security personnel and armored vehicles patrolling in the northern West Bank city and close to the camp on Saturday as gunfire echoed around.
Tensions have been running high since the PA’s arrests of militants earlier this month.
General Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the PA’s security forces, said in a statement they had launched an operation on Saturday at 5:00 am (0300 GMT) in order to “recover Jenin camp... from the control of outlaws.”
Rajab said militants in the camp had set fire to a car in an attempt to “detonate” it.
The Islamic Jihad military wing called for Palestinians in the West Bank “to strike and declare a general mobilization and a day of rage” in a show of support for the Jenin camp militants.
Hamas, the main rival to the Fatah party that dominates the PA, condemned the security forces in a statement, accusing them of “deliberate targeting” of fighters and people wanted by Israel.
Tensions in Jenin escalated on December 5 after armed men seized two official PA vehicles on and paraded through the camp waving flags of the Islamic Jihad group.
On Thursday, the PA admitted responsibility for the killing of a 19-year-old man in Jenin three days before.
The PA has partial administrative authority in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
The clashes have added to the already soaring violence in the West Bank, with Israeli military raids and settler attacks increasing since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
West Bank man killed in clashes with Palestinian security: medic
https://arab.news/bzerr
West Bank man killed in clashes with Palestinian security: medic
- Fighting is usually rare between militants and Palestinian Authority (PA) security personnel
- For more than a week, the northern West Bank city of Jenin has seen intense violence, after the PA had arrested several militants
Lebanon says one dead in Israeli strike in south
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli drone strike in the south killed one person on Saturday, the latest deadly raid despite a more than two-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“An Israeli enemy drone strike... killed one person” in Marjayoun district, the health ministry said in a statement. The official National News Agency reported a car was targeted.
Top Arab, US diplomats meet to discuss Syria’s future
- Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus
- Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria
AQABA, Jordan: Top diplomats from the United States, Turkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday for talks on Syria as regional and global powers scramble for influence over whatever government replaces ousted President Bashar Assad.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration has begun engaging with the victorious opposition groups including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which led a lightning assault that ended in the capture of Damascus on Sunday.
Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region this week to seek support for principles that Washington hopes will guide Syria’s political transition, such as respect for minorities.
Meanwhile, Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that his country’s embassy in the Syrian capital would resume work on Saturday, after Turkiye’s intelligence chief visited this week.
Syria’s neighbor Jordan was hosting Saturday’s gathering in Aqaba. Russia and Iran, who were Assad’s key supporters, were not invited.
Blinken, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Fidan and foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar met around a circular table at a Jordanian government guesthouse. There was no Syrian representative at the table.
The Arab diplomats earlier met separately.
Blinken, meeting Pederson at his hotel earlier on Saturday, said it was a time of “both opportunity but also real challenge” for Syria.
Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria on sectarian lines.
Turkiye and the United States, both NATO members, have conflicting interests when it comes to some of the groups. Turkiye-backed groups in northern Syria have clashed with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF, which controls some of Syria’s largest oil fields, is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years and who it outlaws.
Blinken told Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara on Thursday and Friday that Daesh must not be able to regroup, and the SDF must not be distracted from its role of securing camps holding Daesh fighters, according to a US official with the US delegation. Turkish leaders agreed, the official said.
Fidan told Turkish TV later on Friday that the elimination of the YPG was Turkiye’s “strategic target” and urged the group’s commanders to leave Syria.
At least 18 killed in Israeli Gaza strikes, Palestinian medics say
- Casualties were being carried by foot, on rickshaws and private cars from the site of the attack to the hospital
- The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 44,930 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war
CAIRO: At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, medics said, while the Israeli military said it targeted gunmen operating from shelters and aid storages.
At least 10 people were killed in an airstrike near the municipality building in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where people gathered to receive aid, medics said.
Casualties were being carried by foot, on rickshaws and private cars from the site of the attack to the hospital, medics said. The strike killed the head of the Hamas-run administrative committee in central Gaza, a Hamas source said.
The Israeli military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said. Earlier, Israeli aircraft struck militants and weapon caches near an aid warehouse, the military said, after gunmen had fired rockets into Israel from there.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 44,930 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war. The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 106,624 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
A separate strike in Gaza City on a former shelter housing displaced people targeted Hamas fighters, the military said. At least seven people were killed in that attack, Palestinian medics said, including a woman and her baby.
It was unclear whether any of the other people killed were fighters. The military said it had taken precautions to reduce risk of harm to civilians.
A separate strike in Gaza City killed a local journalist, medics said. The military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said.
The war in Gaza began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel then launched an air, sea and land offensive that has killed at least 44,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
A fresh bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday discussed with visiting US officials efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostages-for prisoners deal in the Palestinian enclave, El-Sisi’s office said.
Top Arab, US diplomats meet to discuss Syria’s future
- Arab diplomats seek assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process
AQABA, Jordan: Top diplomats from the United States, Turkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday for talks on Syria as regional and global powers scramble for influence over whatever government replaces ousted President Bashar Assad.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration has begun engaging with the victorious militant groups including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which led a lightning assault that ended in the capture of Damascus on Sunday.
Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region this week to seek support for principles that Washington hopes will guide Syria’s political transition, such as respect for minorities.
Meanwhile Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that his country’s embassy in the Syrian capital would resume work on Saturday, after Turkiye’s intelligence chief visited this week.
Syria’s neighbor Jordan was hosting Saturday’s gathering in Aqaba. Russia and Iran, who were Assad’s key supporters, were not invited.
Blinken, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Fidan and foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar met around a circular table at a Jordanian government guesthouse. There was no Syrian representative at the table.
The Arab diplomats earlier met separately.
Blinken, meeting Pederson at his hotel earlier on Saturday, said it was a time of “both opportunity but also real challenge” for Syria.
Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria on sectarian lines.
Turkiye and the United States, both NATO members, have conflicting interests when it comes to some of the militants. Turkiye-backed militants in northern Syria have clashed with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF, which controls some of Syria’s largest oil fields, is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years and who it outlaws.
Blinken told Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara on Thursday and Friday that Daesh must not be able to regroup, and the SDF must not be distracted from its role of securing camps holding Daesh fighters, according to a US official with the US delegation. Turkish leaders agreed, the official said.
Fidan told Turkish TV later on Friday that the elimination of the YPG was Turkiye’s “strategic target” and urged the group’s commanders to leave Syria.
Seven Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school, civil emergency says
- The dead include a woman and her baby, according to medics
CAIRO: At least seven Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded after an Israeli strike on a former school that was sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, the civil emergency service said on Saturday.
The Israeli military is looking into the report, a spokesperson said.
Earlier on Saturday the Israeli military said it had targeted Hamas militants who were operating within a school compound in Gaza City and that it had taken measures to reduce harm to civilians.
The dead include a woman and her baby, according to medics. It was unclear whether the other fatalities were Hamas fighters.
The Palestinian Islamist group denies embedding its fighters among civilians in Gaza
