Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces in 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 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 teenager died from his wounds hours after being shot by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian sources said Saturday.

Mohammad Hamad, 16, was shot and wounded on Friday evening near the village of Silwad, near Ramallah in the northern West Bank, and died hours later, a Silwad councilor told AFP.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who was among a group that refused to stop throwing rocks at passing drivers on a road in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said on Saturday.

The army said a number of suspects had hurled rocks "endangering civilians" who were driving on a main road near the city of Ramallah.

"Soldiers at the scene operated to stop the suspects in accordance with standard operating procedures, using live fire as a last resort," it added.

The teenager was near a road leading to the neighboring settlement of Ofra when he was wounded by Israeli soldiers, the councilor said.

The mayor of Silwad said residents had "announced a general strike in the village denouncing this crime".

His death comes amid a spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Nineteen people, mostly Israeli civilians -- including 18 inside Israel and a Jewish settler -- have been killed in attacks by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs since late March.

Israeli security forces have responded with raids inside Israel and in the West Bank in which three Israeli Arab attackers and at least 46 Palestinians have been killed.

Among those killed were suspected militants but also non-combatants, including an Al Jazeera journalist who was covering a raid in Jenin.



Russia is in Touch with New Syrian Authorities at Military, Diplomatic Level, Kremlin Aide Says

A man holds the Syrian opposition flag as they celebrate after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended - Aleppo, Syria - AFP
A man holds the Syrian opposition flag as they celebrate after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended - Aleppo, Syria - AFP
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Russia is in Touch with New Syrian Authorities at Military, Diplomatic Level, Kremlin Aide Says

A man holds the Syrian opposition flag as they celebrate after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended - Aleppo, Syria - AFP
A man holds the Syrian opposition flag as they celebrate after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended - Aleppo, Syria - AFP

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Russia was in contact with Syria's new administration at both a diplomatic and military level, Reuters reported.

Russia granted former president Bashar al-Assad and his family asylum this month after opposition factions took control of Damascus following a lightning and largely unopposed advance.

Moscow has said previously it is in talks about the fate of a naval facility it operates at the port of Tartous and about the Hmeimim air base it operates in Latakia province.