Lions' Den (militant group)

Lions' Den
FoundersMohammed al-Azizi †
Abdel Rahman Suboh †
Abdul Hakim Shaheen †
FoundationJuly 2022
HeadquartersNablus, West Bank, Palestine[1]
Size~100 (according to Palestinian security sources in 2022)[2]
Allies Hamas[3][4]
Opponents
Battles and warsIsraeli–Palestinian conflict

The Lions' Den (Arabic: عرين الأسود, romanized: ʿArīn al-ʾUsud) is a Palestinian militant group operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.[5]

The group emerged in August 2022, a year of increased violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and takes its moniker from Ibrahim al-Nablusi, a prominent militant from Nablus, nicknamed The Lion of Nablus, who was killed in an Israeli raid.[6][7] It comprises members of other Palestinian militant organizations,[8] traditionally opposed by Fatah, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and disaffected members of Fatah, mainly young and secular.[5] The group is reportedly based in the Old City of Nablus.[9]

The organization was founded by a 25-year-old Palestinian named Mohammed al-Azizi, more commonly known as "Abu Saleh", and his friend Abdel Rahman Suboh, or "Abu Adam", 28 years old. They were both killed in fighting in July 2022.[10][11] The group has experienced a rise in popularity among Palestinians in the West Bank, spurred by mounting frustration with the over 50 year old Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the seeming permanence of Israeli settlements and an accompanying increasing Israeli settler violence, along with ineffective governance by the Palestinian Authority.[5]

  1. ^ "Who are the Lions' Den armed group in the occupied West Bank?". www.aljazeera.com.
  2. ^ "New Palestinian militia Lions' Den, behind attacks on soldiers, settlers". The Jerusalem Post.
  3. ^ "PA arrests lawyer suspected of funding Lions' Den terror group". The Jerusalem Post.
  4. ^ "The Lions' Den terrorist group raises its head again". JNS.org. 2023-10-08.
  5. ^ a b c Kingsley, Patrick; Yazbek, Hiba (2023-03-04). "In West Bank, New Armed Groups Emerge, and Dormant Ones Stir". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  6. ^ "Four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank". Le Monde. October 25, 2022.
  7. ^ "Lions' Den – Mapping Palestinian Politics – European Council on Foreign Relations". October 10, 2022.
  8. ^ "2022 Already the Deadliest Year for West Bank Palestinians in 7 Years". A newly established group in Nablus called the Lions' Den, for example, consists of hundreds of young people from different Palestinian groups who take part in shootings on IDF forces.
  9. ^ Fabian, Emanuel. "Armed upstart Lion's Den challenges IDF bid to crack down on Nablus terror". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  10. ^ "New Palestinian militia Lions' Den, behind attacks on soldiers, settlers". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  11. ^ "Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad join forces to fight against IDF". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2022-10-20.