15 Palestinians Hurt in Clashes with Israeli Troops

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum. (AFP)
Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum. (AFP)
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15 Palestinians Hurt in Clashes with Israeli Troops

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum. (AFP)
Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum. (AFP)

Israeli troops in the West Bank wounded 15 Palestinians with rubber bullets Friday in clashes marking 20 years since the start of the second intifada, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The incident took place in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the north of the occupied territory, it said, adding that four of the injured were taken to hospital and the others treated on the spot.

The Red Crescent told AFP that it had also aided "dozens" of protesters who inhaled tear gas fired by Israeli forces.

The Israeli army said it had no knowledge of clashes in the village.

Bearing Palestinian flags, a few hundred demonstrators gathered there in the early afternoon, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Protests against more than five decades of Israeli occupation are a regular weekly occurrence in the West Bank.

Friday's demonstrators also marked the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising which followed late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's contentious visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on September 28, 2000.

The second intifada ended in February 2005, after the deaths of some 4,700 people, nearly 80 percent of them Palestinians.

Palestinian officials, including the vice-chairman of the Fatah party Mahmoud al-Aloul, participated in Friday's march.



Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.

Syrian state media in mid-October claimed that Israel had struck the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russia and in turn backs Hezbollah.

Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base.

“Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the RIA Novosti press agency.

“Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.

“That is why we hope that this incident in October will not be repeated.”

Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, to the northwest of Damascus.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.

The two warring parties have been in open conflict since September after Israel’s year-long Gaza war with Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — escalated to a new front.

Lavrentiev said that Russia’s air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons.

Israel stepped up strikes on Syria at the same time as targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah fighters that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.

Israel rarely comments on its strikes but has said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence to Syria.