West Bank: New Front Challenges Israel, Palestinian Authority

The West Bank witnessed widespread unrest on Tuesday night as Palestinian anger flared in the aftermath of the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. (AFP)
The West Bank witnessed widespread unrest on Tuesday night as Palestinian anger flared in the aftermath of the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. (AFP)
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West Bank: New Front Challenges Israel, Palestinian Authority

The West Bank witnessed widespread unrest on Tuesday night as Palestinian anger flared in the aftermath of the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. (AFP)
The West Bank witnessed widespread unrest on Tuesday night as Palestinian anger flared in the aftermath of the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. (AFP)

The West Bank has witnessed escalating tensions that could potentially open a third front against Israel, along with Gaza and the Lebanese border, since Israel launched its war on the coastal enclave two weeks ago,

Hamas has been actively pushing the West Bank toward a larger confrontation with Israel, even before it launched Al-Aqsa Storm operation on Oct.7.

The Islamic Jihad has also explicitly urged Palestinians in the West Bank to bear arms and engage in the confrontation with Israel.

While much of the attention has been focused on the borders with Gaza and Lebanon, tensions have significantly escalated in the West Bank.

Palestinians there have carried out armed attacks on Israeli military positions, engaged in angry protests, and clashed violently with the army.

It appears that the army has decided to change its approach and crack down on the Palestinians in the area, much like what it is doing in Gaza.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesperson for Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of waging a comprehensive war against Palestinians wherever they are located.

He stated that Israel is a lawless state committing crimes in both the West Bank and Gaza.

The West Bank witnessed widespread unrest on Tuesday night as Palestinian anger flared in the aftermath of the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.

Thousands of people took to the streets across the West Bank, with some clashing with Palestinian security forces, protesting what they saw as “Abbas’s insufficient support for Hamas.”

While Abbas has not directly attacked Hamas, he has been keen on not supporting it, emphasizing multiple times that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the sole representative of the people and focusing more on efforts to halt the war against civilians.

The relationship between Abbas and Hamas has been strained since the movement’s takeover of Gaza in 2007, with the wars in Gaza only exacerbating these tensions.



US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
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US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)

The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the US envoy for the country has said in an interview.

Six months after the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the United States is steadily drawing down its presence as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), a military task force launched in 2014 to fight the ISIS.

"The reduction of our OIR engagement on a military basis is happening," the US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said in an interview with Türkiye's NTV late on Monday.

"We've gone from eight bases to five to three. We'll eventually go to one."

But he admitted Syria still faced major security challenges under interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose coalition toppled Assad in December.

Assad's ouster brought an end to Syria's bloody 14-year civil war, but the new authorities have struggled to contain recent bouts of sectarian violence.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, called for the "integration" of the country's ethnic and religious groups.

"It's very tribal still. It's very difficult to bring it together," he said.

But "I think that will happen," he added.

The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve its troops in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, saying the ISIS presence had been reduced to "remnants".