Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces in The West Bank

Israeli soldiers use weapons amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
Israeli soldiers use weapons amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
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Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces in The West Bank

Israeli soldiers use weapons amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
Israeli soldiers use weapons amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian Fatah party said in a statement.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters said.
Palestinian media said Israeli forces opened fire on the home of a 37-year-old man in a town south of the West Bank city of Jenin. The body was being held by Israel, the report said.
Jenin, in the northern West Bank, has been a center for Palestinian groups for decades and armed factions have resisted repeated attempts to dislodge them by the Israeli military.
Palestinian security forces moved into Jenin last month in a move they say is aimed at suppressing armed groups of "outlaws" who have built up a power base in the city and its adjacent refugee camp.
Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza and a wider conflict on several fronts.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.