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Jenin Refugee Camp, at Center of Israeli Raid

An Israeli armored vehicle is stationed at the end of a blocked-off street during an ongoing military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 4, 2023. (AFP)
An Israeli armored vehicle is stationed at the end of a blocked-off street during an ongoing military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 4, 2023. (AFP)
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Jenin Refugee Camp, at Center of Israeli Raid

An Israeli armored vehicle is stationed at the end of a blocked-off street during an ongoing military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 4, 2023. (AFP)
An Israeli armored vehicle is stationed at the end of a blocked-off street during an ongoing military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 4, 2023. (AFP)

Jenin refugee camp, one of the most crowded and impoverished in the occupied West Bank, is synonymous with Palestinian militancy and resistance against Israel which views it as a "terrorism" hub.

In recent years it has been the site of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.

This week, Israel launched what it called an "extensive counterterrorism effort" targeting the camp, which has so far killed 10 Palestinians and wounded dozens more.

Refuge for displaced Palestinians

The camp was established in 1953 to house some of those among the 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948 when Israel was created, an event Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe".

Today some 18,000 people live in the camp in the northern West Bank. It is just 0.43 square kilometers (0.16 of a square mile) in size, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Over time, the camp's original tents have been replaced by concrete, and it now resembles something closer to a neighborhood.

A symbol of Palestinian resistance

Jenin camp resident Zakaria Zubeidi rose to be a senior figure in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party.

For years, he operated out of the camp and was on Israel's most-wanted list.

Zubeidi escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison with five other Palestinians in 2021, sparking a days-long manhunt, and he is lauded by Palestinians as a hero. He is still alive and in jail.

In 2022, Raad Hazem, another resident of the camp, killed three Israelis in a shooting spree in Tel Aviv's busy Dizengoff Street nightlife district, before being shot dead after a massive manhunt.

Images of Hazem, Zubeidi and those dubbed "martyrs" by the Palestinians after they were killed by Israeli forces plaster the camp's walls and hang from the archways which mark the entrance to the camp's narrow streets.

The 2002 battle for Jenin

The camp was a hive of activity during the second "intifada" or uprising of the early 2000s.

In 2002, the army besieged the camp for more than a month amid fierce fighting that killed 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers.

More than 400 homes were destroyed in the operation, according to UNRWA, and more than a quarter of the camp's population was left homeless.

Shireen Abu Akleh killed

Veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11, 2022 while covering an Israeli raid on the camp for Al Jazeera television, sparking international condemnation.

The Israeli army later admitted one of its soldiers probably shot the reporter -- who was wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest marked "Press" -- having mistaken her for a militant.

Deteriorating security

Over the past 18 months, the security situation in the camp has deteriorated, with the Palestinian Authority having little real presence there. Israel's military says that at least 50 shooting attacks have originated from in and around Jenin so far this year.

The deadly attacks on Israeli targets have prompted a fierce response, with Israel's forces carrying out a string of raids on the flashpoint refugee camp in the first half of 2023.

Israel says "The Jenin Brigade", a local group it alleges is backed by Iran and counts members of Gaza's rulers Hamas, Islamic jihad and Fatah within its ranks, is behind the attacks.

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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)

Israel has expanded its strikes against Hezbollah in Syria by targeting the al-Qusayr region in Homs.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September and has in the process struck legal and illegal borders between Lebanon and Syria that are used to smuggle weapons to the Iran-backed party. Now, it has expanded its operations to areas of Hezbollah influence inside Syria itself.

Qusayr is located around 20 kms from the Lebanese border. Israeli strikes have destroyed several bridges in the area, including one stretching over the Assi River that is a vital connection between Qusayr and several towns in Homs’ eastern and western countrysides.

Israel has also hit main and side roads and Syrian regime checkpoints in the area.

The Israeli army announced that the latest attacks targeted roads that connect the Syrian side of the border to Lebanon and that are used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

Qusayr is strategic position for Hezbollah. The Iran-backed party joined the fight alongside the Syrian regime against opposition factions in the early years of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011. Hezbollah confirmed its involvement in Syria in 2013.

Hezbollah waged its earliest battles in Syria against the “Free Syrian Army” in Qusayr. After two months of fighting, the party captured the region in mid-June 2013. By then, it was completely destroyed and its population fled to Lebanon.

A source from the Syrian opposition said Hezbollah has turned Qusayr and its countryside to its own “statelet”.

It is now the backbone of its military power and the party has the final say in the area even though regime forces are deployed there, it told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Qusayr is critical for Hezbollah because of its close proximity to the Lebanese border,” it added.

Several of Qusayr’s residents have since returned to their homes. But the source clarified that only regime loyalists and people whom Hezbollah “approves” of have returned.

The region has become militarized by Hezbollah. It houses training centers for the party and Shiite militias loyal to Iran whose fighters are trained by Hezbollah, continued the source.

Since Israel intensified its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the party moved the majority of its fighters to Qusayr, where the party also stores large amounts of its weapons, it went on to say.

In 2016, Shiite Hezbollah staged a large military parade at the al-Dabaa airport in Qusayr that was seen as a message to the displaced residents, who are predominantly Sunni, that their return home will be impossible, stressed the source.

Even though the regime has deployed its forces in Qusayr, Hezbollah ultimately holds the greatest sway in the area.

Qusayr is therefore of paramount importance to Hezbollah, which will be in no way willing to cede control of.

Lebanese military expert Brig. Gen Saeed Al-Qazah told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qusayr is a “fundamental logistic position for Hezbollah.”

He explained that it is where the party builds its rockets and drones that are delivered from Iran. It is also where the party builds the launchpads for firing its Katyusha and grad rockets.

Qazah added that Qusayr is also significant for its proximity to Lebanon’s al-Hermel city and northeastern Bekaa region where Hezbollah enjoys popular support and where its arms deliveries pass through on their way to the South.

Qazah noted that Israel has not limited its strikes in Qusayr to bridges and main and side roads, but it has also hit trucks headed to Lebanon, stressing that Israel has its eyes focused deep inside Syria, not just the border.