Palestinian Presidency Urges ‘Calm’ after Armed, Popular Clashes in Nablus

A side of the clashes in Nablus (AP)
A side of the clashes in Nablus (AP)
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Palestinian Presidency Urges ‘Calm’ after Armed, Popular Clashes in Nablus

A side of the clashes in Nablus (AP)
A side of the clashes in Nablus (AP)

The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday has urged Palestinians to maintain “calm” after violent confrontations having erupted between angry gunmen and security forces in the city of Nablus north of the West Bank.

Prior to the breakout of violence, the angry gunmen were protesting the arrest of wanted armed individuals being pursued by Israel.

Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh urged calm in Nablus in order not to give way to those conspiring against the national Palestinian project.

Abu Rudeineh also called for “confronting the conspiracies of the occupation and some regional countries that want to harm the Palestinian national project.”

According to Abu Rudeineh, the presidency called on Palestinians “to unite at this dangerous stage that their national cause is going through.”

The spokesperson also warned against Palestinians being drawn behind malicious agendas and reaffirmed that spilling Palestinian blood was unacceptable.

“We affirm the sanctity of Palestinian blood, the need to maintain order and security in the Palestinian street, and to display a spirit of responsibility,” noted Abu Rudeineh, stressing that the main battle is with the Israeli occupation.

The appeal for calm to prevail came during unprecedented confrontations in Nablus, where clashes continued throughout Monday and Tuesday night.

The altercations took two forms. Shooting confrontations took place between armed Palestinian organizations and members of the security services on one side, and popular confrontations, during which angry youths blocked roads and threw stones and bottles at the Palestinian security forces.

Clashes and widespread confrontations erupted after Palestinian Authority security forces arrested two individuals wanted by the Israelis, Musab Shtayyeh and Ameed Tabila.

Shatayyeh and Tabila were arrested in a tight ambush in Nablus.

The arrest of Shtayyeh, who is a Hamas operative, came amid a wave of Israeli operations against militants in the West Bank, concentrated largely in the cities of Jenin and Nablus.

The Israeli operations have been met by many confrontations and clashes over the past few weeks.



Turkish Energy Minister Says SOCAR May Become Partner in Providing Gas to Syria

Logo of Azerbaijan's SOCAR for natural gas. (Reuters)
Logo of Azerbaijan's SOCAR for natural gas. (Reuters)
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Turkish Energy Minister Says SOCAR May Become Partner in Providing Gas to Syria

Logo of Azerbaijan's SOCAR for natural gas. (Reuters)
Logo of Azerbaijan's SOCAR for natural gas. (Reuters)

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday that Azerbaijan's SOCAR could become a partner in Türkiye’s plans to provide Syria with natural gas, adding that Ankara hoped to start the provision soon.

Bayraktar said during a visit to Damascus in May that Türkiye would provide 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Syria annually, in addition to 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

"SOCAR might be a partner with us in this project. I hope we can normalize life in Syria," Bayraktar said during a visit to Vienna for an OPEC meeting.

Ankara, which supported opposition forces in neighboring Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended in December with the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, has now become one of the new Syrian government's main foreign allies while positioning itself to be a major player in Syria's reconstruction.