Al-Quds Brigades Says Commander Killed in Syria, Accuses Israel

People rally in Gaza raising Islamic Jihad flags. DPA file photo
People rally in Gaza raising Islamic Jihad flags. DPA file photo
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Al-Quds Brigades Says Commander Killed in Syria, Accuses Israel

People rally in Gaza raising Islamic Jihad flags. DPA file photo
People rally in Gaza raising Islamic Jihad flags. DPA file photo

A commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad was killed in Syria on Sunday in what it described as an assassination by Israeli agents.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, said in a statement that Ali Ramzi al-Aswad, 31, was killed Sunday morning in the Damascus countryside in a “cowardly assassination with bullets bearing the fingerprints of the Zionist enemy,” referring to Israel.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the alleged assassination.

The Islamic Jihad said in a statement Aswad’s family had been displaced from the city of Haifa in 1948 and settled in the refugee camps in Syria, where he joined the organization as a young man.



Palestinian Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israel West Bank Raid

Demonstrators clash with Palestinian security forces in Nablus in the West Bank (File photo/Reuters)
Demonstrators clash with Palestinian security forces in Nablus in the West Bank (File photo/Reuters)
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Palestinian Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israel West Bank Raid

Demonstrators clash with Palestinian security forces in Nablus in the West Bank (File photo/Reuters)
Demonstrators clash with Palestinian security forces in Nablus in the West Bank (File photo/Reuters)

The health ministry in the occupied West Bank said one person was killed and nine injured in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp, with the Israeli military saying Saturday it had opened fire at "terrorists".

An 18-year-old man, Muhammad Medhat Amin Amer, "was killed by bullets from the (Israeli) occupation in the Balata camp" in the territory's north, the Palestinian health ministry said in a late-night statement, adding that nine people were injured, "four of whom are in critical condition".

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the raid began on Friday night and triggered violent clashes, AFP reported.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli troops entered the camp from the Awarta checkpoint and "deployed snipers on the rooftops of surrounding buildings".

In a statement on Saturday, the Israeli military said that during the "counterterrorism" operation, "terrorists placed explosives in the area in order to harm (military) soldiers, hurled explosives, molotov cocktails, and rocks and shot fireworks at the forces".

"The forces fired toward the terrorists in order to remove the threat. Hits were identified," the statement said.

Violence in the West Bank has intensified since war broke out in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Since then, at least 815 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.

In the same period, Palestinian attacks in the West Bank have killed at least 25 Israelis, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since conquering it in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.