Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia in response to Israeli military actions in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Abbas decided to return urgently to Ramallah, the administrative center of Palestine, to "personally monitor the situation in light of the Israeli aggression," which targeted settlements in the northern part of the West Bank.
On the night of August 28, the Israel Defense Forces launched a counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarm. The operation resulted in the deaths of at least nine Palestinians and left several dozen injured. Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz justified the military's actions as necessary to dismantle "the terrorist infrastructure created by Iran in these areas," and called for "a resolute fight against this threat, similar to the efforts against terrorist structures in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any other necessary measures."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Ahmad2015a/Creative Commons 3.0
Based on materials from TASS