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Palestinian gunman kills Israeli soldier outside of Kedumim, Bezalel Smotrich’s home settlement
(JTA) — A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli soldier when security forces stopped the gunman while he was driving near the Kedumim settlement in the northern West Bank. The gunman was killed after the attack.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday, noting that Kedumim is where Bezalel Smotrich, the minister responsible for the West Bank, lives.
“Tell the criminal Zionist Minister Smotrich that al-Qassam almost knocked on your door,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Qassam Brigades, a militia affiliated with Hamas, as saying.
Hamas said the attack was retaliation for a massive Israeli raid this week in Jenin, where 12 Palestinians whom Israel says were armed militants were killed. An Israeli soldier was also killed in that raid.
The Israel Defense Forces said the gunman near Kedumim was killed after being scrutinized. “Security forces identified and stopped a suspicious vehicle for inspection,” the IDF spokesman said in a statement. “During the inspection, an assailant inside the vehicle opened fire toward them. The forces responded with live fire and the assailant fled. IDF soldiers and civilian security personnel pursued the assailant, and engaged and neutralized him.”
Reports said that the settlements civilian security team alerted the army after spotting a suspicious white van circling the settlement around 4 p.m. A joint army and civilian security team stopped the van and the gunman shot and killed one member of the team. Later Thursday, the IDF identified the slain soldier as Shilo Yosef Amir, 22.
Palestinian media identified the gunman as a 19-year-old from Qibya, a village near Ramallah.
“The enemy will know that its massacre in Jenin only increased our people’s insistence on resistance and adherence to its approach until liberation,” Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based news service, quoted Hamas as saying.
Palestinian-Israeli tensions have been mounting ting for over a year and intensified after the election last November of the most-right wing government in Israeli history. Smotrich, who is also the finance minister, is one of its most extremist members and has said he will use his powers as the minister running the West Bank to limit Palestinian growth and expand Israeli settlements.
Israeli authorities say most of the terrorist attacks on Israelis originate in Jenin. They say the raid this week, the biggest in years, was necessary because the Palestinian Authority is virtually powerless in the city, which is controlled by militias.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.