IDF ignored intelligence on Syrian breach?
Earlier on Tuesday, I saw a tweet that claimed that Haaretz had reported that the decision to try to jump the Syrian border fence on Sunday was 'spontaneous.' When I went to Haaretz to check it out (having lost the original tweet), I found a far different story. It seems that the IDF had intelligence that something was up and ignored it. Sources in the Northern Command confirmed the existence of intelligence indicating that Nakba Day demonstrators planned to try to cross the border near the "Shouting Hill," across from Majdal Shams. However, they said, the IDF had based its deployment on past experience, and expected the Syrian army to prevent the demonstrators from breaching the border.What could go wrong?
The IDF's initial investigation of the Nakba Day incidents, carried out Sunday night and yesterday, determined that the reserve battalion stationed in the Majdal Shams sector did not have the backup forces necessary to respond to a mass border crossing attempt. In addition, they lacked sufficient crowd control equipment to disperse such demonstrations.
Such equipment is routinely provided to IDF troops in the West Bank.
The army officially acknowledges that 137 people crossed the border, all of whom were either returned to Syria or arrested. But IDF sources say the true number is probably closer to 150, and that some individuals apparently evaded the police roadblocks around Majdal Shams and traveled further into Israel.
Labels: Majdal Shams, Naqba day, Syrian border breach
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:38 PM
2 Comments:
If they had been armed terrorists, a lot of people would have been killed.
Heads need to roll at the Northern Command.
The failure to safeguard the borders was inexcusable.
If senior officers there were negligent in their duty, they should be replaced with officers who will do their job.
Fortunately, this time the protestors were unarmed. Next time it may be very different. Bringing paintball guns to the border is no way to protect Israel's sovereignty - unless the IDF wants to become a joke.
What could go wrong indeed
Its the same as the Mavi Mari boarding; Israeli arrogance leads to catastrophe. I have watched these videos shot by Israeli arabs sympathetic with their bretheren and wondered "Gee, it's been 10 minutes already and no IDF. The border has been breached. Local and foreign arabs are hugging and kissing and screaming alah blabla and we are doing nothing."
This is a monumental failure on every level. We may as well give them land and slit our own throats if this is how our government intends to handle things.
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