‘Blood and bullets’ on the way – Lion’s Den terror group threatens Israel

After the terror group’s top leaders were killed and arrested, Lion’s Den gunmen hold public rally threatening Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The Lion’s Den terror group held a rally in the Old City of Nablus (Shechem) on Friday, in a show of force after many of the group’s top commanders were killed in IDF raids or arrested by security forces.

Hebrew language media reports said that some 50 to 70 masked men affiliated with the terror group, armed with automatic weapons, marched through the streets.

Referring to Israel, Lion’s Den said in a statement after the rally that “the enemy only understands blood and bullets,” signaling that future attacks may be on the horizon.

The Nablus-based terror group is believed to have been formed relatively recently, and is not associated with already established terror groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Following a string of shooting attacks on IDF soldiers – including one which was fatal – and a thwarted terror attack by a Lion’s Den operative who was arrested in Tel Aviv with a machine gun, Israel and the Palestinian Authority launched a joint operation aimed at clamping down on the group.

Anti-terror raids in Nablus carried out by the IDF left a significant number of the group’s senior leadership dead, and some 60 commanders and operatives from the Lion’s Den turned themselves in to be arrested by the PA, rather than face being imprisoned in Israel.

Mohammed Abu Dira, who heads another Nablus-based terror group the Balata Battalion, told the Jerusalem Post on Saturday that the smaller terror groups are still operating – despite intense efforts from Israeli security forces to dismantle them.

“The rally [on Friday] aimed to send a message to all those who claim that the Lions’ Den and the resistance in Nablus are finished,” Abu Dira told the Post.

“The Lions’ Den and the Balata Battalion are fully coordinated. I was responsible for organizing the rally on Friday; we wanted to surprise everyone and show that the resistance groups are still there and are even increasing their power.”

A Nablus local told the Post that the public show of force from the Lion’s Den was an embarrassment for the Palestinian Authority and Jerusalem.

“This is a severe blow to both Israel and the Oslo [Palestinian] Authority,” the unnamed source told the Post.

“After they announced the dismantling of the Lions’ Den two months ago, it turned out that the group has actually doubled its strength.”