Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers searching the village of a-Za'im, east of Jerusalem, found multiple lathes and specialized equipment used for manufacturing and maintaining weapons, the military said. The operation follows a similar seizure in the same area earlier today.
Israeli security forces conducting searches in the village of a-Za'im, east of Jerusalem, uncovered multiple lathes and specialized equipment used for manufacturing and maintaining weapons, the military and Israel Border Police said. The find, reported at 14:12, follows a first discovery of a single lathe in the same village earlier in the day, which The Zioneer first reported at 10:07.
That initial seizure, published at 10:07, was described as an intelligence-led raid that netted a lathe used for weapon production. A subsequent dispatch at 21:29 confirmed the location as a-Za'im and noted it was part of a broader effort against illicit arms manufacturing. The new discovery — again in a-Za'im — adds multiple additional lathes plus specialized maintenance gear, indicating a more extensive workshop than initially apparent. The military has not disclosed whether the two finds are linked to the same facility or separate sites.
The operation falls within a pattern of Israeli raids targeting weapon-production infrastructure in the West Bank. As The Zioneer reported on June 11, forces have been acting on targeted intelligence in the a-Za'im area specifically. Broader context includes similar IDF operations uncovering weapons caches in southern Lebanon, such as the large warehouse north of the Litani River reported on June 10, though those are separate theaters.
No arrests have been reported in connection with either find in a-Za'im, and the military has not released details on the scale of the workshop, who operated it, or the specific types of weapons produced. The relationship between the two discoveries — whether they represent one expanded operation or two distinct targets — also remains unconfirmed.
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