Shooting Attack at West Bank Car Wash Kills 2 Israelis

Israeli security stand guard at a checkpoint following a reported attack in the town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli security stand guard at a checkpoint following a reported attack in the town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
TT

Shooting Attack at West Bank Car Wash Kills 2 Israelis

Israeli security stand guard at a checkpoint following a reported attack in the town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli security stand guard at a checkpoint following a reported attack in the town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank, on August 19, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Two Israelis were killed in a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on a car wash in a volatile stretch of the occupied West Bank on Saturday.

The Israeli military said it was searching for suspects and setting up roadblocks near the town of Hawara, a flashpoint area in the northern West Bank, which has seen repeated shooting attacks as well as a rampage by Jewish West Bank settlers who torched Palestinian property.

The shooting attack came after Palestinian official media said a 19-year-old Palestinian died of his wounds following an Israeli military raid into the West Bank on Wednesday.

Israeli paramedics said Saturday that when they arrived at the scene, two Israeli males, aged 60 and 29, were found unconscious at the car wash in Hawara with gunshot wounds.

Videos circulating online from the car wash showed Israeli soldiers walking across a large pool of blood to help move two bodies on stretchers to awaiting ambulances.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.