An elite Israel Defense Forces soldier died on October 12 after being shot near the community of Shavei Shomron in the northern West Bank. Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch, 21, was attacked by gunmen who opened fire from a passing vehicle as his unit was “conducting operational security activity in the area,” the IDF said.
A relatively unknown Palestinian armed faction operating out of the nearby city of Nablus, the Lion’s Den, soon claimed responsibility for the killing of Baruch, warning Israel that “the volcano of our operations has begun and only God will extinguish it.”
Tuesday’s deadly shooting was the latest in a string of recent attacks carried out by terrorists from Nablus that targeted Israeli security forces and civilians. On October 2, the Lion’s Den in two separate West Bank shootings injured an Israeli taxi driver and a soldier.
As Jerusalem reportedly told the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) that it is considering a raid of Nablus with an eye to saving Israeli lives, it is imperative that journalists provide their readers with proper context regarding Nablus’ bloodsoaked history and how ruthless terror groups continue to run the city’s streets to this day.
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The ‘Triangle of Terror’: Nablus’ History as an Epicenter of Radicalism
Located between the biblical Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim in northern Samaria, Nablus (identified with the ancient Jewish city of Shechem) is home to about 150,000 people, making it the second-largest locality under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.
Nablus’ history as a hub for anti-Jewish terrorist activity far predates the founding of the modern State of Israel. In a 1921 report, a British Mandate official already denounced the Nabulsi attitude as “fanatic” and “bigoted,” citing, in particular, the city’s “hostility to the Jews.” Notably, the bloody Arab riots of 1936-39 were in part triggered by the slaying of two Jewish men near Nablus at the hands of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam supporters.
Soon after the attack, on April 20, 1936, the Arab National Committee of Nablus declared a general strike and boycott of Jewish goods, a call heeded by Arabs throughout the Mandate’s territory. During the six-month strike, some eighty Jews were murdered in terror acts, with a total of 415 Jewish deaths recorded during the entire 1936-1939 Arab Revolt period.
Together with Jenin and Tulkarem, Nablus comprised what London at the time dubbed the “Triangle of Terror” or “Triangle of Fear.” Palestinian Arabs, for their part, nicknamed the city the “Mountain of Fire” (Jabal an-Nar), another reference to its long record as a stronghold for radicals.
Related Reading: Jenin: The Palestinian Terror Capital & Its Threat to the Region
The violence did not subside following Jordan’s occupation and subsequent annexation of the territory that became known as the West Bank in 1948. Tensions culminated shortly before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in street battles against King Hussein’s rule, as protesters demanded they be armed to fight the young Jewish state. In response, Amman’s Bedouin troops shot 20 Nablus citizens and imposed 20 days of curfew.
When Palestinian arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat set up Fatah terror cells in the West Bank after the Arab armies’ ’67 defeat, he chose Nablus as the location for his first secret headquarters, before relocating to Ramallah.
In 1986, an assassination claimed by the far-left Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group took the life of the Israeli-appointed Palestinian mayor of Nablus, Zafer al-Masri. The relative moderate, who had only taken office two months earlier, stood accused of “betraying the homeland” by working with the government in Jerusalem.
Related Reading: Reign of Terror: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Many Palestinians say the First Intifada (1987-1993), in which almost 200 Israelis were murdered, started with clashes in Nablus’ Balata refugee camp.
Some of the most horrific terror attacks during the Second Intifada (2000-2005) were likewise carried out by Nablus residents, including a December 2, 2001, bombing of a Haifa bus that killed 15 Israelis and injured 40. The day after the attack, thousands of Hamas followers marched through Nablus in support of suicide bomber Maher Habashi.
The explosive belts used in the March 2002 Passover massacre (30 dead) were also produced by Hamas in Nablus.
Indeed, since the turn of the century, virtually all Palestinian terror organizations have maintained a significant presence in the city, the main actors being Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the PFLP and Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The latter was established in the Balata camp by Arafat confidante Nasser Awis.
Related Reading: The Second Intifada: Israeli Society Terrorized
During Operation Defensive Shield (March-May 2002), IDF troops uncovered hundreds of rifles and improvised firearms in Nablus, in addition to 18 explosives laboratories and a factory producing Qassam rockets.
According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, “arms were concealed, inter alia, in the home of the mayor, in the home of the police chief of the city, in activists’ homes and in warehouses.”
“Those who planned the campaign had no illusions that a single military operation, however comprehensive, could completely eliminate Palestinian terrorism,” an analyst at Tel Aviv University’s Center for Strategic Studies wrote in April 2002, adding: “Thus far, ‘Defensive Shield’ has accomplished most of its aims. Much of the terrorist infrastructure has been destroyed.”
Fast forward 20 years, the successes of Operation Defensive Shield have apparently been undone, and Nablus’ reputation as an epicenter for Palestinian terror has been firmly re-established.
The Lion’s Den: ‘an Octopus With a Lot of Arms’
Nablus initially resurfaced in the international press on February 8, 2022, after IDF forces neutralized three Palestinians during an operation in the al-Makhfiya neighborhood. Israeli officials said the targets belonged to a terror cell that had conducted shooting attacks against Israeli military positions and personnel. Palestinian media later confirmed the three were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
Six months later, following a Palestinian terror wave that left 19 Israelis dead, Israeli troops during a raid killed Ibrahim Nabulsi, the fourth member of the cell suspected of being a commander of the terror group’s Nablus brigade. Nabulsi was wanted for numerous attacks in the West Bank, including shooting attacks against Jewish worshippers visiting Joseph’s Tomb just outside of Nablus.
During the standoff in Nablus, the terror mastermind published a recording on social media in which he urged Palestinians not to “forsake your weapons.”
In the recorded last will and testament left by
dead #Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Nabulsi, he asked his supporters to "not leave the rifle". Since then the meme "We will not leave the rifle" has gone viral, as this little girl also promises:
c/o @MoranT555 https://t.co/FEzRul0NnO pic.twitter.com/A6c4nnv1Yp— Imshin (@imshin) August 14, 2022
And indeed, after Nabulsi’s death, a cadre of young Palestinian terrorists took it upon themselves to carry on his violent legacy. This summer, Ibrahim Nabulsi helped found a new coalition of armed groups modeled after the Jenin Batallion; Areen al-Usood (the Lion’s Den). According to Israeli data, the number of drive-by shootings targeting Israeli military positions near Nablus has more than doubled since 2021.
The Lion’s Den has also attacked civilians, for instance by firing at the Jewish community of Har Bracha, located south of the Palestinian city. On September 9, Israeli security forces thwarted a large-scale attack in Tel Aviv, arresting an operative linked to the Nablus group. The would-be terrorist carried a rifle, two explosive devices, and a flag with the Lion’s Den logo, as revealed by FFD’s Long War Journal.
All in all, the group is estimated to consist of some 100 Palestinians under the age of 30. Although the alliance includes members of Fatah, PIJ, Hamas and the PFLP, it has no clear affiliation with any specific terror organization. “It’s like an octopus with a lot of arms, but without a real head,” Israeli security analyst Raphael Jerusalmy told local media on Wednesday. “There is no hierarchy, there is no supreme commander, and it’s very difficult to identify them.”
'It's like an octopus without a head, there's no hierarchy,'
Says security analyst Raphael Jerusalmy about Lions' Den, the Hamas-backed terror group claiming responsibility for a string of recent attacks in the West Bank pic.twitter.com/D8y8Nx8SjW
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 12, 2022
The Lion’s Den this week explicitly rejected the Palestinian Authority’s offer to lay down its weapons in return for amnesty. With the Israeli death toll rising, the prospect of a broader Israeli counterterror operation in Nablus is closer than ever.
Meanwhile, Fatah official Jamal Huwail told Arabic-language media that the recent uptick in violence emanating from both Nablus and Jenin, dubbed the “Palestinian terror capital” by some observers, once again confirms the “spiritual, moral and cultural unity” between the two cities.
Seemingly, little has changed since the British Mandate authorities first noted Nablus and Jenin’s connection to terrorism against Jews. When reporting on the situation in the northern West Bank, news organizations must ensure they convey the full picture to their readers and viewers.
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