One of the new terrorist groups operating in the city of Nablus received a strong blow at the beginning of the week when some of its members encountered an IDF ambush in the Grizim area near the city of Nablus, the terrorists who were traveling in a car and a motorcycle escaped but the IDF managed to kill the terrorist Said al-kouni and 3 other terrorists were wounded and escaped to the city of Nablus.
The terrorist Said al-kouni is the fifth terrorist who belongs to this group killed by the IDF forces in the last year, before him the terrorists Muhammad al-Azizi, Abd al-Rahman Subch, Islam Subuch and Ibrahim al-Nabulsi were killed.
Half a year ago, the IDF killed 3 armed terrorists belonging to the group known as the “Nablus Battalion” in the city of Nablus , with ties to the Islamic Jihad organization, and they names are: Muhammad al-Dakhil, Ashraf Mazblat and Adham Mabruka.
The” Lion’s Den” group (“Arin al-Ousoud” in Arabic) has been carrying out shooting attacks against the settlers and against IDF soldiers for a long time.
Its activity is focoused on shooting at IDF checkpoints in the Nablus area, at the” Har Bracha” settlement and at settlers moving along roads in the Nablus area.
This group numbers several dozen armed terrorists and its center is the old city of Nablus, the Kasbah, where terrorist groups such as the “Black Panther” of the Fatah movement and the “Red Eagle” of the Popular Front organization operated during the first intifada, these groups also operated in the Jenin area,
all members of these armed groups were killed by the IDF or arrested.
The activity of the armed groups in the city of Nablus strengthened at the beginning of 2022 as a result of the influence of similar groups that began to operate in the Jenin area, the process stems from the weakening of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
The “Lions’ Den” group in Nablus was founded by the terrorists Muhammad al-Azizi and Abd al-Rahman Subch, who were assassinated by the IDF.
This terrorist group claims that it does not belong to any Palestinian faction, it advocates an armed struggle against Israel.
It engraves on its flag the terrorist symbols of all the Palestinian organizations: Yasser Arafat (Fatah), Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (Hamas), Abu Ali Moustafa (Popular Front) Fathi Shkaki (Islamic Jihad).
Last week, the members of the group entered into live fire battles with the Palestinian security forces after it arrested the Hamas terrorist Mouseb Ishteyeh who was wanted by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In the exchange of fire, a Palestinian was killed and 3 others were injured.
The members of the “Lion’s Den” group are masked and wear black clothing as a red ribbon is tied to the barrels of their guns to symbolize that no shot is fired in vain.
Security officials in Israel claim that the Islamic Jihad, Iran and Hamas finance the activities of armed terrorists in the Jenin and Nablus areas, a senior activist of the Islamic Jihad, Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi, was even arrested in Jenin by the Shin Bet on suspicion of supporting in these groups, but the Palestinians claim that the activity of these groups “crosses parties and factions”.
The members of these groups present themselves as a “new national phenomenon” that does not belong to any Palestinian faction and that they have their own young leadership and the symbols operating in the field, some of the members of the new armed groups have relatives in the security forces of The PA.
To this must be added the growing terrorist activity of the military wing of Hamas which has increased the recruitment of residents of the West Bank to carry out terrorist activities in the West Bank, the Shin Bet recently arrested 2 such squads that carried out shooting attacks and planned additional attacks.
The security chaos in the West Bank is increasing and requires vigorous activity by the IDF In view of the PA’s inability to deal with the new phenomenon.
It will no longer be possible to be satisfied with wanted terrorists arrests, there are more than a thousand armed terrorists in the northern West Bank and the area must be cleared otherwise terrorism will reach the Israeli cities.
