عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Palestinian Group Accuses Israel of Killing Fighter

Israeli troops walk near a scene of the stabbing incident near Hebron, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli troops walk near a scene of the stabbing incident near Hebron, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Palestinian Group Accuses Israel of Killing Fighter

Israeli troops walk near a scene of the stabbing incident near Hebron, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli troops walk near a scene of the stabbing incident near Hebron, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, September 2, 2022. (Reuters)

A Palestinian group accused Israel on Sunday of killing one of its top fighters in a targeted attack deep inside a West Bank city, promising to unleash a fierce response.

The Den of Lions, a group of young Palestinians that was formed out of frustration and disillusionment with the Palestinian leadership and its tight security ties with Israel, said Tamer al-Kilani was killed when an explosive device planted on a motorcycle exploded as he walked by.

The Israeli military declined to comment. The military has been conducting nightly raids in the occupied West Bank since the spring in what it says is a bid to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The raids have ratcheted up tensions in the area and have been met by a series of Palestinian shooting attacks, said The Associated Press.

An Israeli military official said al-Kilani was connected to a deadly shooting attack last week that killed an Israeli soldier, as well as several other shooting attacks in the northern West Bank. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details with the media.

Two videos provided by Den of Lions showed a person on a motorcycle parking and exiting the frame. The second video showed a man, seemingly al-Kilani, walking by a motorcycle and then what appears to be a blast.

Sunday's killing happened in Nablus, a city in the northern West Bank where the Palestinian Authority has less of a foothold.

Israel accuses the Palestinians, with which it coordinates to clamp down on "militants", of being unwilling to rein in lawlessness in the area. The Palestinian Authority, created under interim peace agreements in the 1990s, rules parts of the West Bank semi-autonomously.

Many Palestinians oppose the security coordination, viewing it as a sign of the PA's weakness and as a betrayal of the Palestinian people. Widely disenchanted with the PA, which is widely seen as undemocratic and corrupt, young Palestinians are flocking to an array of fighter groups to seek weapons.

Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz has said Den of Lions has no more than 30 members and has promised that their days are numbered.

But shooting attacks in the area have been on the rise and in recent weeks have turned deadly.

The military raids in the West Bank began in the spring after a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people, while more recent attacks have killed several more.

More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making this year the deadliest since 2015. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed during the raids have been "militants". But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Report: US Blocks Iraq’s Dollar Shipments to Squeeze Iran-Backed Factions

An Iraqi man walks past shops in the Jamila food market in Sadr City, east Baghdad on April 13, 2026. (AFP)
An Iraqi man walks past shops in the Jamila food market in Sadr City, east Baghdad on April 13, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

Report: US Blocks Iraq’s Dollar Shipments to Squeeze Iran-Backed Factions

An Iraqi man walks past shops in the Jamila food market in Sadr City, east Baghdad on April 13, 2026. (AFP)
An Iraqi man walks past shops in the Jamila food market in Sadr City, east Baghdad on April 13, 2026. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump's administration has halted US dollar shipments to Iraq and frozen security cooperation programs with its military, as it presses Baghdad to dismantle Iranian-backed factions operating in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing Iraqi ‌and US ‌officials.

US Treasury Department officials ‌recently ⁠blocked a delivery of ⁠nearly $500 million in US banknotes - the proceeds of Iraqi oil sales - from accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Journal ⁠said.

Reuters could not immediately verify ‌the ‌report. The US Treasury Department and the ‌Federal Reserve did not ‌immediately respond to a request for comment.

Washington has also informed Baghdad it is suspending funding for some counter-terrorism ‌and military training programs until faction attacks end and ⁠Iraqi ⁠authorities take steps to dismantle armed groups, the report added.

The United States earlier this month summoned Iraq’s ambassador after a drone struck a major US diplomatic facility in Baghdad, following a series of drone attacks that Washington has blamed on Iran-aligned “terrorist militias."

Arab World

Israeli Strike on Lebanon's Bekaa Kills One Despite Truce

A young boy walks amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
A young boy walks amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
TT
TT

Israeli Strike on Lebanon's Bekaa Kills One Despite Truce

A young boy walks amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
A young boy walks amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)

An Israeli drone strike on Lebanon's Bekaa region killed one person and injured two others on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, despite an ongoing truce between Israel Hezbollah.

"One person was killed and two others were wounded as a result of an attack carried out by an enemy drone at dawn on the outskirts of Al-Jabur in West Bekaa," the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

However, the Israeli military said it was unaware of the ‌strike.

Hezbollah on Tuesday said it had launched rockets and attack drones at a site in northern Israel in response to "blatant" Israeli ceasefire violations, which it said included "attacks on civilians and the destruction of their homes and villages.”

The Israeli military said that day that Hezbollah "launched several rockets" towards soldiers stationed in south Lebanon and that the military struck the launcher in response.

NNA on Wednesday reported Israeli artillery shelling and demolitions in southern towns Israel continues to occupy.

Israel conducted huge strikes across Lebanon and invaded the south after Hezbollah entered the Middle East war in support of its backer Iran on March 2.

Despite the truce which began on Friday, Israeli soldiers are still active in south Lebanon, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying on Sunday that they would use "full force" if threatened.

Under the truce terms, Israel says it reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.”

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people since the start of the war, a Lebanese government body said in its latest toll.

 

Arab World

Israel Destroys Infrastructure in Southern Lebanon to Prevent Residents’ Return

A nun inspects a Christian religious site hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. (AFP)
A nun inspects a Christian religious site hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. (AFP)
TT
TT

Israel Destroys Infrastructure in Southern Lebanon to Prevent Residents’ Return

A nun inspects a Christian religious site hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. (AFP)
A nun inspects a Christian religious site hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. (AFP)

Israel is escalating its campaign in southern Lebanon beyond direct military operations, pursuing what Lebanese officials describe as a systematic destruction of infrastructure, particularly in villages along the so-called “Yellow Line.”

Hospitals, schools, and water, electricity and telecommunications networks have been repeatedly targeted, alongside the destruction of bridges and roads, severing links between towns and isolating communities.

Lebanese ministerial sources noted that the approach is part of a policy of displacement. Residents have been repeatedly warned not to return to more than 80 villages, in what appears to be an effort to create an uninhabited buffer zone lacking basic services.

Air strikes have also hit areas outside occupied zones, including Wadi al-Hujeir, which was struck on Tuesday.

Israeli demolitions using explosives and bulldozers have not been limited to homes, but health and education facilities, seen by Lebanese officials as part of pressure on Hezbollah’s support base.

Israel considers civilian infrastructure in these areas a form of indirect support for the group and a potential platform where it can renew its activity.

Hospitals hit

From the first hours after hostilities erupted on March 2, triggering large-scale displacement, the Israeli army targeted hospitals and health centers in the south.

MP Bilal Abdullah, head of the parliamentary health committee, said Isarel had “intensified the destruction of health institutions and the medical system in southern villages.”

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that available data indicate “partial destruction of eight southern hospitals, all of which are now completely out of service,” listing them as the Tebnin Governmental Hospital, Sheikh Ragheb Harb Hospital, Salah Ghandour Hospital, Hiram Hospital, Jabal Amel Hospital, Hasbaya Governmental Hospital and Bint Jbeil Governmental Hospital.

He added that “the greatest damage has affected primary health centers,” noting that more than 100 ambulances had been destroyed and 121 doctors and paramedics killed in the hospitals and medical centers he listed.

Education sector targeted

The destruction of infrastructure is also aimed at deterring civilians from returning to the area for years to come, Lebanese officials say.

The education sector has been among the hardest hit. A source at the education ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat that targeting schools and institutes aims “to undermine the population’s ability to remain in their towns.”

Israel sees strikes on education as an effective way to empty villages of residents, forcing families to relocate in search of schooling alternatives for their children, the source stated.

The war has resulted in the total destruction of public schools in Dhayra, Bustan, Yarin and Tayr Harfa, as well as partial damage to Naqoura Intermediate School. In vocational and technical education, the Khiam and Qantara institutes have been completely destroyed, while institutes in Bint Jbeil, Aita al-Shaab, Tebnin, Toul, Nabatiyeh, Zrariyeh, Jbaa, Maarakeh, Abbasiyeh, Jouaiyya, Qana and Ansar have sustained partial damage.

The extent of structural damage means some of these institutions may be beyond repair, the source added.

According to education ministry statistics, schools in Nabatiyeh and its district have suffered the most damage: one school has been completely destroyed, 18 heavily damaged and seven left unharmed, while no information is currently available on 61 others.

Electricity and water

Damage to electricity and water infrastructure has also been severe. A source at the energy and water ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat it is not yet possible to compile a precise assessment of losses, but it confirmed damage to a number of power transformers and water facilities.

“The biggest problem lies in water networks,” the source remarked, noting that losses in the sector during the 2024 war exceeded $100 million. “The damage in this war surpasses that figure,” due to the destruction or disruption of pumping stations, treatment plants, reservoirs and supply networks.

Israel is pressing ahead with turning dozens of southern villages into a scorched zone, in what observers see as an attempt to extract political or security concessions from Lebanon. The higher the cost of destruction, the greater the pressure on the Lebanese state to seek arrangements to halt the war and limit its losses.