Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the Popular Forces, a local militia in the southern Gaza, stands armed in front of a convoy of U.N. vehicles. (Photo taken from the Facebook account of the Popular Forces)
Yasser Abu Shabab passed away on Dec. 4 in a hospital in south Israel from injuries sustained by Israeli attacks during the Gaza war. This article was originally published on June 12, 2025.The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This, in essence, is the relationship that binds Yasser Abu Shabab to Israel, with Hamas in the middle. Coming from a Bedouin tribe also present in neighboring Sinai, the man was reportedly in Hamas' jails on Oct. 7, 2023, imprisoned for drug trafficking, and allegedly escaped amid the chaos of the war and Israeli bombings. In the Gaza Strip, he leads a militia known as the Popular Forces, which has a few hundred "volunteers" and is reportedly armed by the Israeli state.Mainly present in the east of Rafah, in the buffer zone near the Kerem Shalom crossing point, the armed group is said to be expanding...
Yasser Abu Shabab passed away on Dec. 4 in a hospital in south Israel from injuries sustained by Israeli attacks during the Gaza war. This article was originally published on June 12, 2025.The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This, in essence, is the relationship that binds Yasser Abu Shabab to Israel, with Hamas in the middle. Coming from a Bedouin tribe also present in neighboring Sinai, the man was reportedly in Hamas' jails on Oct. 7, 2023, imprisoned for drug trafficking, and allegedly escaped amid the chaos of the war and Israeli bombings. In the Gaza Strip, he leads a militia known as the Popular Forces, which has a few hundred "volunteers" and is reportedly armed by the Israeli state.Mainly present in the east of Rafah, in the buffer zone near the Kerem Shalom crossing point, the armed group is said to be expanding...
'American sponsorship is a guarantee,' says Lebanese-American coordination committee