Lions' Den (militant group)

Lions' Den ( Arabic : عرين الأسود , romanized : ʿArīn al-ʾUsud ) is a Palestinian militant group operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank . The group emerged in August 2022, a year of increased violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , and takes its moniker from its co-founder Ibrahim al-Nablusi, a prominent militant from Nablus, nicknamed "The Lion of Nablus", who was killed in an Israeli raid. It comprises members of other Palestinian militant organizations, traditionally opposed by Fatah, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad , and disaffected members of Fatah , mainly young and secular. The group is reportedly based in the Old City of Nablus . 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. 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 . The group has experienced a rise in popularity among Palestinians in the West Bank, regularly sharing videos of their attacks on TikTok and Telegram . Their TikTok account was suspended in October 2022, leading the group to publish the rest of their videos to their Telegram account, which holds 238,000 subscribers as of 24 February 2023. The New York Times . The New York Times . "The story of Palestinian 'martyr' Ibrahim al-Nabulsi" . 2022-09-30 . 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. The Times of Israel .