West Bank turns into Gaza and The Lions' Den survives

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This Monday night, an undercover Israeli special forces unit was uncovered whilst operating close to the Old City of Nablus, resulting in a four-hour gun battle and the killing of 5 Palestinians. Despite the losses, behind this story is a massive failure for the Israeli militaryو and one they continue to cover up.

Late Monday night, Israeli special forces were operating in Nablus city, their goal? To deliver a severe blow to the newly formed Areen Al-Assoud (Lions' Den) armed group. According to Hebrew media, the occupation army had coordinated with the Shin Bet (Israeli domestic intelligence) and top Israeli political leadership to launch a major operation in the old city that was green-lit by Prime Minister Yair Lapid himself. The reporting in the English speaking press, today, will reflect the line of the occupation army, that their operation was successful, however, it clearly failed on a number of levels, and the lack of integrity in the reporting of outlets, such as the Associated Press, is a clear indication of how far this cover-up has gone.

The Areen Al-Assoud has been a thorn in the side of the occupation forces since it announced its existence on September 2, carrying out a successful drive-by shooting attack that killed an Israeli staff sergeant, earlier this October. Although it is a relatively small group, formed of young men primarily between the ages of 18-25, its commando operations and shrewd political rhetoric has seen it grow into an extremely popular movement throughout occupied Palestine. This is so worrying for Tel Aviv that Israeli agents planted explosives inside a motorbike in Nablus last week, assassinating Tamer al-Kilani, a senior figure inside the Lions' Den group.

The Israeli botched operation, which led to a four-hour battle inside the Old City of Nablus into the early hours of Tuesday morning, may have inflicted a blow on the group, yet represented a massive strategic failure on the part of the Zionist military and intelligence apparatus. The undercover Israeli force were discovered by Palestinians in Nablus, which led to a gunfight between the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Security Forces, during which at least one PA officer was shot dead. What followed was a massive deployment of the Israeli military into the city of Nablus and the blocking of ambulances, along with the Press, into the Old City, as the Lion’s Den group engaged in a long battle with Israeli special forces units.

"Israel" used attack drones to open fire on Palestinians from the air, and a large number of anti-tank munitions were used against buildings where Palestinian resistance fighters were based. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed movement loosely affiliated with the Fatah Party, declared that they had blown up a building where an Israeli unit was stationed with a massive burst of gunfire and explosives. Several reports emerged of Israeli forces being killed or injured, none of which have been confirmed. However, the Zionist military has been reticent to release an honest analysis of the battle and/or admit the true extent of its casualties. 

Regardless of the true statistics, as they pertain to Israeli casualties, the military operation was a resounding failure. What did the Zionist regime have to show for its attack? A claim that it blew up an explosives manufacturing lab, which would be meaningless anyway, in addition to the killing of Wadih al-Houh, a senior figure and co-founder of the Lions' Den group. The reality is, despite the losses and images that came from the Old City, which mimicked Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, the only thing the operation has to show for itself is the killing of Wadih al-Houh. This was clearly not the intention of the operation, as such a task could be carried out through many different means that are much less risky to Israeli military personnel, hence why Tamer al-Kilani was assassinated by a booby-trapped motorbike explosion.

"Israel’s" operation involved the Shin Bet, the Israeli military and top-level political leadership. It utilized hundreds of soldiers, armored vehicles, attack drones, anti-tank weapons, special forces units and still failed to dismantle a small, localized and newly formed armed group that it besieged in the Old City of Nablus, even losing a military jeep after it was targeted by the resistance forces. No Lions' Den fighters were arrested and only a single member of the movement's leadership was killed after "Israel" brought to bear a massive show of its military force for four whole hours.

Instead of dealing a death blow to the Lions' Den, the failed operation - which is now being attributed to the wider ‘Operation Break the Wave’, that "Israel" launched on March 31 - is only succeeding at one thing so far, encouraging more Palestinians to take up arms. The case of Uday al-Tamimi, who opened fire on Israeli occupation forces at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint, exemplifies this perfectly. Uday managed to kill an Israeli soldier, injure three others, flee the checkpoint and evade capture for almost 11 days, emerging again to launch a second attack, armed only with a handgun. Untrained and part of no armed group, Uday al-Tamimi shook the Israeli occupation forces to their core, and even when he was killed during his second attack on armed Israeli forces, he did not stop shooting until the very end.

It has become abundantly apparent that the Zionist regime has lost control in the West Bank, in areas like Nablus and Jenin. Even the fact that this major operation was essentially foiled by PA Security Force officers indicates that their security coordination has failed them too. The PA was clearly not made sufficiently aware, or even aware at all of the Israeli operation, and individual PA officers decided to take matters into their own hands. Despite the corruption of the PA and its continued insistence on maintaining security coordination with the occupation, individual members of the PA’s security force can easily switch sides in support of the Lions' Den and other resistance forces. Security coordination between the PA and “Israel” cannot save “Tel Aviv”, neither can it stop the overwhelming Zionist violence, the time has come for the rise of the young generation of Palestinian resistance fighters.