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
TT

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.



Iran Rejects Accusations it Interfered in Syria

Women smoke a water pipe as they sit on a lookout area at the mount Qasioun in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Women smoke a water pipe as they sit on a lookout area at the mount Qasioun in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
TT

Iran Rejects Accusations it Interfered in Syria

Women smoke a water pipe as they sit on a lookout area at the mount Qasioun in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Women smoke a water pipe as they sit on a lookout area at the mount Qasioun in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday expressed “concern” over “the spread of chaos and violence” in Syria and rejected accusations that Tehran interfered in Syria, after the new Syrian foreign minister told Tehran not to spread chaos in his country.
"We reject the baseless accusations by some media ... against Iran over interfering in Syria's internal affairs," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted as saying by state media.
"It is necessary to prevent the spread of insecurity and violence ... and ensure the security of Syrian citizens," he added.

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, said on Tuesday that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and Syria's sovereignty and security.

"We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them accountable for the repercussions of the latest remarks," he said.

On Sunday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth to "stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and brought about this insecurity.”

Khamenei forecast "that a strong and honorable group will also emerge in Syria because today Syrian youth have nothing to lose,” calling the country unsafe.

The former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Rezaee, said that the Syrian people “will not remain silent in the face of foreign occupation and aggression” or “the tyranny of an internal group.”

He added: "They will revive the resistance in Syria in a new form in less than a year."

"They will fail the malicious and deceptive plan led by America, the Zionist entity, and the regional countries that have been manipulated,” he added.