Hamas drone engineer assassinated in Tunisia was working on undersea drone to attack Israeli gas platforms
Ten days ago, a drone engineer who worked for both Hamas and Hezbullah was
assassinated in Tunisia. The Tunisian government accused '
foreign entities' of being involved in the assassination, and both Hamas and
Hezbullah pointed a finger at Israel.
It now turns out that the engineer, Mohammed al-Zawahri, was
developing an undersea drone that could be used to attack Israeli natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean. From Professor Jacobson.
Israel in recent years has discovered and is developing enormous natural gas reserves, and has installed air defenses around platforms, including a sea-based Iron Dome system.
Ynet News reports:
Chief Hamas engineer Mohammad al-Zawahri, who was killed in Tunisia earlier this month, was reportedly working on drones and “remote-controlled submarines” for the Islamic terror group. A TV station in Tunisia recently aired footage allegedly presenting these projects.
Talk show Labes aired photos from al-Zawahri’s lab with host Rashed
al-Hiyari claiming one of them shows remote-controlled “submarines”
developed by the Tunisia engineer.
“Israel knew he was a real threat and that is why it assassinated
him,” al-Hiyari said of al-Zawahri. “There was a failed attempt to
assassinate him several months ago as well.”
AL Monitor further reports:
Alzoari was an aeronautical engineer who specialized in
the manufacture of drones. For the last few years, he was employed by
Hamas and Hezbollah. According to sources in Tunis, he also designed an
unmanned naval vessel, apparently submersible and capable of attacking
targets at sea.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth (the Hebrew language version of Ynet), al-Zawahari was involved specifically in targeting the natural gas platforms.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: drone, Hamas, Hezbullah, Palestinian terrorism, targeted killings
Report: Israel behind '08 assassination of Assad confidante, US monitors Israeli military communications
This guy is so secretive, I have not found his picture online.
Seven years ago next week, I reported on the
apparent assassination of Mohammed Suleiman, a close confidante of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the port city of Tartus (which used to have a Russian Naval installation before Bashar was on the run). There were rumors all along that
Israel had carried out the
assassination.
Now, in a piece of convenient timing, it's being reported once again that Israel did it. But this time, the report is based on
documents provided by Edward Snowden and confirmed by US intelligence (which by the way spies on Israeli military communications - imagine the scandal if that report were the other way around Mr. Obama) (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
While Israel has never spoken about its involvement, secret U.S.
intelligence files confirm that Israeli special operations forces
assassinated the general while he vacationed at his luxury villa on the
Syrian coast.
The internal National Security Agency document, provided by former
NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is the first official confirmation that
the assassination of Suleiman was an Israeli military operation, and
ends speculation that an internal dispute within the Syrian government
led to his death.
A top-secret entry in the NSA’s internal version of Wikipedia, called
Intellipedia, described the assassination by “Israeli naval commandos”
near the port town of Tartus as the “first known instance of Israel
targeting a legitimate government official.” The details of the
assassination were included in a “Manhunting Timeline” within the NSA’s
intelligence repository.
According to three former U.S. intelligence officers with extensive
experience in the Middle East, the document’s classification markings
indicate that the NSA learned of the assassination through surveillance.
The officials asked that they not be identified, because they were
discussing classified information.
The information in the document is labeled “SI,” which means
that the intelligence was collected by monitoring communications
signals. “We’ve had access to Israeli military communications for some
time,” said one of the former U.S. intelligence officers.
The former officer said knowledge within the NSA about
surveillance of Israeli military units is especially sensitive because
the NSA has Israeli intelligence officers working jointly with its
officers at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Read the whole thing. My guess is that (a) this is true, (b) the timing was designed to throw the first of what will be many monkey wrenches in Israel's efforts to convince Congress to vote down the Iran deal, and (c) the part of the article (which I did not quote here) about Israel violating international law is meant to serve as a warning to Netanyahu not to get out of line in his efforts to defeat the Iran deal.
By the way, Netanyahu was not Prime Minister in 2008.
Ehud K. Olmert was. Hmmm.
Labels: assassination attempt, Bashar al-Assad, Binyamin Netanyahu, Edward Snowden, Ehud K. Olmert, Israeli national security, spying, Syria, targeted killings
Why now? US says 'The CIA collaborated with the Mossad to kill Imad Mughniyah'
The Washington Post reports that the death of Imad Mughniyah was a
joint CIA-Mossad operation.
The United States helped build
the bomb, the former official said, and tested it repeatedly at a CIA
facility in North Carolina to ensure the potential blast area was
contained and would not result in collateral damage.
“We probably blew up 25 bombs to make sure we got it right,” the former official said.
The
extraordinarily close cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli
intelligence services suggested the importance of the target — a man who
over the years had been implicated in some of Hezbollah’s most
spectacular terrorist attacks, including those against the U.S. Embassy
in Beirut and the Israeli Embassy in Argentina.
The United States
has never acknowledged participation in the killing of Mughniyah, which
Hezbollah blamed on Israel. Until now, there has been little detail
about the joint operation by the CIA and Mossad to kill him, how the car
bombing was planned or the exact U.S. role. With the exception of the
2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, the mission marked one of the most
high-risk covert actions by the United States in recent years.
Israel, of course, has said 'no comment.' So has the CIA. But over the past week we've been warned repeatedly about how Prime Minister Netanyahu would be 'jeopardizing' cooperation with the United States if he comes to Washington to speak to Congress in March. Cooperation like this? Well,
maybe.
Really? This comes out right now? The “new” book by Robert B. Baer cited in the article was actually published in October — and it doesn’t say there was collaboration. Baer and unnamed others have been gotten to confirm it, apparently. But the timing is distinctly odd, given the recent dust-ups between Hezbollah and the IDF.
You might almost think someone was trying to add fuel to the fire.
Notice how the finger points at an event in the Bush years, and not at
cooperation since Obama took office, although there undoubtedly has been
such cooperation.
So Obama is burning the bridges between the US and Israel because he's ticked off that Netanyahu is coming to the US to tell Congress that Israel is opposed to Obama's weak policies on Iran. How short sighted!
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, CIA, Ehud K. Olmert, George W. Bush, Imad Mughniyah, Mossad, targeted killings
Mohammed Allahdadi died because... he left his cell phone on
Hey youngsters - you have to
turn your cell phone off once in a while.
An Iranian general killed in an alleged Israeli air strike last Sunday in Syria may have died because he did not turn off his cellphone.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Joumhouria
reported on Saturday that a Hezbollah investigation into the strike
found that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Allahdadi
kept his cellphone on in a sensitive area targeted by Israeli
intelligence.
According to the report, Allahdadi was in the
Quneitra area on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Sunday with
Hezbollah personnel at outposts that the Syrians and the Iranian built
in order to counter Syrian rebels along with Syrian army forces. A few
days before Allahdadi's visit a joint "operations room" was established
with Hezbollah.
Allahdadi reportedly was killed along with his personal assistant, his driver and a more junior Iranian officer.
Eleven
people total were killed in the airborne attack, including Jihad
Mughniyeh the son of the late Hezbollah military leader and Imad
Mughniyeh Mohammed Issa, the head of Hezbollah's operation in war-torn
Syria and Iraq. Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group which is backed by
Iran and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, said six of its
members died in the strike.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, cell phone, Golan Heights, Hezbullah, Iran, Nusra Front, Syria, targeted killings
Wow! SIX MORE Hamas commanders were supposed to be in bunker busted meeting
Six more senior Hamas commanders were supposed to be at a meeting that Israel broke up with three
bunker busters on Thursday morning, killing Mohammed Abu Shamalah, Raed al-Atar and Mohammed Barhum. Hamas is so scared of what has happened that they have charged an additional 150 people as '
collaborators.'
Hamas's "military wing", the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issued a
statement on Sunday saying that the men had been arrested over "security
leaks", a source told the Arabic-language outlet. The source claimed
Hamas was "in a state of confusion" following the elimination of three top al-Qassam Brigades commanders, Mohammed
Abu Shamalah, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhum on Thursday, as well as
an attempted assassination of the Brigades's top leader, Mohammed Deif.
Hamas claims Deif survived the attack, which killed his wife and two
of his children, but has not issued any word on his condition.
Compounding the group's fears is the fact that the Israeli Air Force
strike killed Abu Shamala, Attar and Barhum as they met in a top-secret
bunker some 30 meters underground. Six other commanders were reportedly
due to join them, but the decision appears to have been taken to
eliminate them as soon as they were together, to avoid the possibility
of any of them getting away.
And the assassinations of top Hamas leaders has continued since, with the group's top financial chief and "Justice Minister", Mohammed al-Ghoul, taken out by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday.
The bunker was located under the home of the "Kilab" family, and the
IAF targeted the house and the tunnel beneath it with bunker-buster
bombs weighing up to three tons, both ensuring the elimination of the
terrorists and avoiding unnecessary damage to surrounding homes as much
as possible.
Their liquidation essentially wiped out Hamas's entire southern military command in Gaza.
Why aren't we doing the same with Shifa Hospital, where the most senior Hamas commanders are hiding out?
Labels: bunker busters, civilian casualties, collaborators, Gaza, Hamas, human shields, Mohammed Deif, Shifa Hospital, targeted killings
IAF eliminates chief Hamas financier in northern Gaza
I suspect that the image may not be the one from the actual hit, but it's always good to see burnt out cars next to a man with a keffiyeh.
Israel has eliminated Hamas' chief financier in Gaza, one
Mohammed al-Ghoul (a name which is apparently quite common in the terrorist organization, but I think it might be
this guy).
3:59 P.M. The Israeli army says it has struck Mohammed
al-Ghoul, responsible for Hamas' money transfers, in an air strike.
Before the Hamas-Fatah unity government was established, al-Ghoul was
Hamas' justice minister in the Gaza Strip. According to the army, a
direct hit was recorded. In Gaza, reports have emerged that an air
strike hit a vehicle on al-Wahda Street in the northern part of the Gaza
Strip, killing one and wounding ten. Hamas has not yet made an official
announcement regarding the reports. (Gili Cohen and Jack Khoury)
Bye bye. Make sure to put a sheeet over your head....
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
Idiocy: Lapid issues veiled threat to Meshaal, Marzouk
In 1997, during Prime Minister Netanyahu's first term in office, the Mossad attempted to poison Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' politburo chief. Unfortunately, because the operation was carried out in Jordan, with which Israel had a treaty, and because the agents who attempted to kill Meshaal were caught, Netanyahu was forced to send an antidote to Jordan and to release Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas' spiritual leader. Yassin was killed in an Israeli airstrike seven years later.
On Sunday, Finance Minister Yair Lapid issued a veiled threat against Meshaal's life. Meshaal is now in Qatar, a country with which Israel has no relations, so the situation is very different from 1997.
But....
Security Cabinet member and Finance Minister Yair Lapid has warned
that Hamas's political leadership - including those based abroad - are
not "immune" from bearing the consequences of continued rocket and
mortar fire against Israeli civilians.
Speaking just before a Security Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Lapid
referred to the murder of four-year Daniel Turgeman in a mortar attack
on southern Israel, saying Israel "would not tolerate" the targeting of
its children by Islamist terrorists.
...
"Those responsible for his death will pay the price," Lapid vowed. "Hamas's
leaders need to know that we will pursue them, and we will cause them
to pay the price for what is happening in the south of the State of
Israel."
"No one is immune - not the political leadership, and not the leadership abroad," he said.
Until now Israel has largely avoided targeting Hamas's
"political" leadership, focusing on commanders and personnel from its
"military wing", the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. On Thursday, Israel succeeded in killing three of its "most wanted" Hamas terrorists in a strike targeting senior al-Qassam Brigades commanders.
A previous strike targeted the Brigades' commander, Mohammed Deif,
but Hamas claimed this elusive terrorist mastermind had survived -
though it gave no word on his precise condition.
Hamas's most senior political leader is Khaled Meshaal, currently
based in Doha, Qatar. Other senior Hamas leaders are also based abroad -
including one of the suspected masterminds of the kidnap and murder of
three Israeli teens in June, Salah al-Aruri.
Lapid is a moron. Everyone knows that Israel is
capable of striking Hamas terrorists
abroad. Keep your mouth shut and just do it.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Dubai, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Jordan, Khaled Meshaal, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Operation Protective Edge, Qatar, targeted killings
Meshaal exposed Deif?
A phone call from Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal to top military commander Mohammed Deif may have
exposed Deif's hideout on Tuesday night, allowing the IDF to take a shot at him.
The reports say that the phone conversation took place shortly after a
meeting in Doha, Qatar, between Mashaal and Palestinian Authority (PA)
head Mahmoud Abbas. A senior Palestinian source said that Mashaal was
under pressure to accept the Egyptian ceasefire proposal and wanted to
consult with Deif.
Possibly due to the pressure he was under, Mashaal broke the rules of
secrecy that help keep Deif's location secret and called him, thus
making it possible for Israeli intelligence to pinpoint Deif's
whereabouts and bomb the building he was in.
...
Hard hit by the IDF, Hamas's military wing in Gaza has reportedly
been pressing the political leadership to accept a ceasefire, but
Mashaal, who operates from Qatar, has been refusing to do so.
A senior member of Palestnian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's
Fatah faction said Wednesday Hamas's choice to forego the Egyptian
truce proposal and return to its rocket war on Israel was due to Qatari
pressure.
We're lucky to have such enemies. The Emir of Qatar is so self-centered that he will not agree to a deal just because Egypt negotiated it.
The Fatah source, quoted in the Arabic Al-Hayat and cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, noted that Egypt
refused to allow Qatar to play a role in the Cairo ceasefire talks,
stipulating that Qatar apologize for its policies towards the Nile State
since Muslim Brotherhood member and former Egyptian President Mohammed
Morsi was deposed last July 3. Qatar is the leading sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian offshoot.
Meshaal is willing to fight to the last Gazan to maintain his own standing in Qatar. And Deif cannot even take basic precautions like not answering the phone.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
P.S. It's still not 100% clear whether or not we got Deif on Tuesday night.
Labels: Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Khaled Meshaal, Mohammed Deif, Operation Protective Edge, Qatar, targeted killings
Video: IDF targets senior Hamas terrorists
The IDF has targeted senior Hamas terrorists, Mohammed Abu Shamlah, Raed Attar and Muhamad Barhoum.
Let's go to the videotape.
Good riddance.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
Off the deep end: Gideon Levy compares Netanyahu to Deif
This tweet is disgraceful. Only Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily and/or someone who writes for them would post such a thing from Israel.
Since when is Mohammed Deif a head of state? He's a terrorist with the blood of hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians
whom he targeted on his hands. Israel, on the other hand, does not target innocent civilians.
If any of you still subscribe to the rag known as 'Haaretz,' please consider canceling you subscriptions.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, civilian casualties, human shields, Israel's Hebrew Palestinian daily, Mohammed Deif, targeted killings
IAF eliminates three most senior Hamas commanders in southern Gaza
A pre-dawn IAF raid has
eliminated the three most senior Hamas commanders in southern Gaza. One of them, Raed al-Attar, is seen in the picture above holding Gilad Shalit's arm on the day of Shalit's release.
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades in a statement identified the leaders as
Mohammed Abu Shamalah, Raed al-Atar and Mohammed Barhum. Emergency
services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said eight people were killed in the
strike.
Witnesses said a four-storey family home was completely destroyed in a series of air strikes.
The airstrike was carried out based on intelligence provided by the
Shabak (Israel Security Agency), which led to the identification of two
central Hamas figures.
...
Mohammed Abu Shamalah, 40, was the most senior Hamas commander in
southern Gaza, classified by security services as the head of the
"Southern Command" of Hamas. Abu Shamalah was responsible for the areas
of Rafiah and Khan Younis, and is a longtime friend and associate of
Ezzedine al-Qassam's elusive leader, Mohammed Deif, who was himself
targeted in an IDF strike yesterday - a strike he is believed to have
survived.
He was also a close associate of Raed al-Atar, another leading Hamas commander eliminated in this morning's strike.
Abu Shamalah has been involved in dozens of deadly terrorist attacks
since the 1990s. In 2008 he was intimately involved in the planning and
execution of a major terror attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing into
Gaza using booby-trapped jeeps, in which 13 soldiers were wounded.
He was also involved in an attack at the same spot two years before
in which IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted and two other soldiers
were killed.
During Operation Protective Edge Abu Shamalah was behind an
infiltration by 13 terrorists via a terror tunnel from Gaza into Israel.
Raed al-Attar, also 40 years old, was the Brigade Commander of
Hamas's southern command in Gaza, and one of the most senior figures
within its "military wing".
Attar was one of the key architects of Hamas's "terror tunnel"
network in southern Gaza, and plated an important role in coordinating
the construction of tunnels elsewhere in Gaza.
He also helped coordinate several major terrorist attacks, and together with Abu Shamalah were Hamas's top leadership in the southern Gaza Strip.
The third terrorist, Mohammed Barhum, was a less senior Ezzedine
al-Qassam commander. He was not the intended target of the operation but
was killed while meeting with Attar and Abu Shamalah.
JPost adds:
"This strike represents a very significant intelligence achievement, and an intelligence infiltration," a security source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The attack came after the Shin Bet received intelligence on the location of the terrorists, security forces added, describing the targets as men who were senior and central members of Hamas's military wing.
Let them look for the 'collaborators'... and let them not find them. Heh.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IAF, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
Yes, Israel targeted Mohammed Deif
The JPost is reporting that the 'Palestinians' are accusing Israel of attempting to assassinate Ezzadein al-Qassam brigades commander
Mohammed Deif (center) on Tuesday night.
Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk charged on Wednesday after Gaza truce talks collapsed in a spasm of violence that Israel had targeted the group's armed wing leader Muhammad Deif in one of its air strikes on Tuesday in the coastal territory.
The Israeli military would not specify any of the targets of some 30 attacks across Gaza in response to rocket fire aimed at Israel. Marzouk said Israel had ruptured the truce alleging it was in order "to assassinate Muhammad Deif," but that civilians were killed at the site of the attack.
Palestinian health officials said three people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City, including a child and a woman. The third victim was not identified.
Israeli media said Israel had been targeting another leading Hamas militant in charge of rocket fire, but did not know whether or not he had survived the attack.
Deif is certainly a legitimate military target, and if he uses his home as a command post (which is likely), his home is also a legitimate military target.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that two civilians were killed in the strike -
Deif's wife and daughter.
"The wife of the great leader was martyred with his daughter," in a strike on Tuesday night, Hamas' exiled deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
He said nothing about the fate of Mr Deif himself. He said Israel had been looking for "an excuse to target a big Hamas leader".
Palestinian emergency services revised an earlier report of three killed in the strike on a large house in the city's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and said the victims were a woman and a two-year-old girl.
...
Mr Deif was appointed head of Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002 after the death of his predecessor Salah Shehade in a raid.
Mr Deif had survived at least five previous Israeli attempts to kill him.
Shehadeh managed to
take 14 civilians with him when he was killed.
The IDF is now confirming that
it did target Deif.
An Israeli diplomatic source confirmed Wednesday morning to Walla! that Israel tried overnight to eliminate Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas's "military wing," the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamas has claimed that five bunker-buster bombs were fired by Israel targeting the elusive mastermind behind Hamas's terror war.
...
While Deif's condition is currently unknown, local health officials quoted by Reuters said
three people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City, including
a child and a woman, possibly Deif's wife and daughter. The third death
was not identified, leaving speculation open that the IAF may in fact
have hit its mark.
Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) commented on the latest
attempt to end Deif's life; the terrorist leader has until now evaded
five IDF assassination attempts, losing both of his legs in one airstrike.
Deif "is exactly like (former Al Qaeda leader Osama) Bin Laden," appraised Sa'ar, speaking to Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio). "This is an arch-murderer. Where there is an operational opportunity to eliminate him - it must be taken."
Note that the Arutz Sheva report - published an hour ago - is four hours later than the Sydney Morning Herald report.
Hmmm.
P.S. Why can't we use bunker busters to target the bunker under Shifa Hospital the same way?
Labels: bunker busters, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Mohammed Deif, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
Hamas demands to know why Israel went after rocket division head
In its first reaction to this evening's events, Hamas' Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades is demanding that Israel disclose why it attacked the Gaza City home of the A-Dilu family, killing at least two people, one of whom was apparently
Mohammed A-Dilu, the head of Hamas' rocket division (link in Hebrew). That targeted killing is the apparent reason behind the massive number of rockets (more than 50) fired this evening.
Hamas accused Israel of opening the 'gates of hell' by targeting A-Dilu.
Hamas named him. Apparently it was him and not Deif.
Hamas is accusing Israel of destroying the cease fire because Prime Minister Netanyahu called his delegation home from Cairo at 4:00 pm. Hamas started shooting at 3:30 pm.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
Israel assassinates Hamas rocket division head? Or was it Mohammed Deif?
Translation: Before the firing: An assassination attempt on a senior Hamas member in Sheikh Radwan. In Israel they will not confirm whether it's talking about Mohammed Deif and whether he was hit.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Hamas rockets, IAF, Mohammed Deif, Palestinian terrorists, targeted killings
Report: Netanyahu vetoed targeting Hamas leaders
Prime Minister Netanyahu
vetoed targeted attacks on Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmud a-Zahar according to a report in Yisrael Hayom.
According to the newspaper, Lapid said that the IDF should “take down
the heads of Hamas,” including Hamas-Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh and the
head of the organization's political bureau, Khaled Meshaal.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu) and
Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Chairman of Jewish Home) supported
the idea.
The prime minister opposed it.
It was decided instead to bomb the homes of the Hamas leaders even though it is known that they are not residing in them.
Diplomatic sources explained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
wants to behave in a more “measured” way, “in order to give Israel
international maneuvering room.”
Netanyahu ordered the elimination of Meshaal by poison in Jordan in
September, 1997, but the assassination bid failed. Jordanian security
forces arrested two of the Israeli agents involved and the Mossad team
found itself trapped in Amman. Israel ended up supplying an antidote to
the poison that was killing Meshaal and freeing 70 jailed terrorists,
including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas.
I think Netanyahu is spooked because of the Meshaal thing seventeen years ago. IDF helicopters eventually took care of Yassin.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Meshaal, Mahmoud al-Zahar, targeted killings
Hamas' chief weapons researcher gets his virgins
The IDF has announced that Hamas' chief weapons researcher
got his virgins on Friday.
The target, Ismael Muhammad Sa'ad Akluk, 25, was in a vehicle which was
targeted by the IAF, acting on information from the Shin Bet
intelligence agency.
The Shin Bet said Akluk had been involved in weapons production centers
and weapons research and development for several years, describing him
as a key figure in Hamas's drone and rocket research program.
"This strike represents a blow to the armament program of Hamas's
military wing, particularly to advanced weapons and drones, which are
seen as flagship programs that received many resources," the Shin Bet
stated.
Heh.
Labels: car swarm, Gaza, Hamas, IAF, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
IDF kills Islamic Jihad spokesman
The IDF killed
Salah Abu Hasnin on Friday, the spokesman for Islamic Jihad.
The IDF and Shin Bet struck the Rafah home of senior Islamic Jihad
member Salah Abu Hasnin on Friday morning. Hasnin, a member of Islamic
Jihad's supreme military council, was killed in the attack. Hasnin was
also the head of Islamic Jihad's spokesman division in Rafah.
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
The IDF has released a list of senior terrorists killed in the last 24 hours.
The IDF said on Friday morning that it killed or wounded 40 terrorists
in the past 24 hours. The names of eight Hamas and Islamic Jihad
terrorists killed were released in a statement by the IDF
Spokesperson's Office:
Haphet Mahmad Hemed was a Senior Islamic Jihad commander for the Beit
Hanoun area. He was responsible for the rocket fire toward Sderot that
lead up to Operation Protective Edge.
Hassin Abbad Elkhader Mahsin was a senior Islamic Jihad commander for the Sajaiya area.
Ahram Sha'er was a senior Islamic Jihad commander for the Khan Yunis
area. Born in 1973, he was involved with executing terror attacks and
rockets fired at Israel.
Mahmoud Ziada was a senior Islamic Jihad commander in the Jabaliya area,
responsible for building up rocket supplies and took part in
anti-Israel fighting and rocket attacks toward Israel.
Osama Alhiya was a Hamas commander in the Sajaiya area. He was the son
of Halil Alhiya, a senior official in Hamas' national assembly.
Muhammad Shabban was a senior commander in Hamas' naval forces
Ahmed Sahmud was a commander in Commander in Khan Yunis.
Abdallah Al'ahras was a Hamas military commander.
Good riddance to all.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Islamic Jihad, Operation Protective Edge, targeted killings
So much for Hamas not wanting a fight
So much for
Hamas not wanting a fight. Two more terrorist
rockets have hit Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported.
The rockets struck just as parents were dropping off children at
schools and kindergartens. The attacks triggered sirens and sent
families fleeing for cover.
The rocket attacks came after the IAF launched airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday just prior to midnight,
the first such operation since a truce ended an eight-day cross-border war
in November.
Defense Minister Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon says that he will not tolerate a drizzle of rockets on southern Israel, and he is right. Will we see a targeted killing next? If this escalates, will the IDF finally be given orders to liquidate Hamas? What could go wrong?
Labels: Hamas rockets, Palestinian terrorism, Sderot, targeted killings
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Monday, November 26.
1) For me not for thee
The New York Times reports, U.S. Election Speeded Move to Codify Policy on Drones:
Partly because United Nations officials know that the United States
is setting a legal and ethical precedent for other countries developing
armed drones, the U.N. plans to open a unit in Geneva early next year to
investigate American drone strikes.
The attempt to write a formal rule book for targeted killing began last
summer after news reports on the drone program, started under President
George W. Bush and expanded by Mr. Obama, revealed some details of the
president’s role in the shifting procedures for compiling “kill lists”
and approving strikes. Though national security officials insist that
the process is meticulous and lawful, the president and top aides
believe it should be institutionalized, a course of action that seemed
particularly urgent when it appeared that Mitt Romney might win the
presidency.
“There was concern that the levers might no longer be in our hands,”
said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. With a continuing
debate about the proper limits of drone strikes, Mr. Obama did not want
to leave an “amorphous” program to his successor, the official said.
The effort, which would have been rushed to completion by January had
Mr. Romney won, will now be finished at a more leisurely pace, the
official said.
I don't have a problem with drone strikes against enemies, but does the
Obama administration feel that it is uniquely qualified to define
targeting criteria? Never mind, as the article noted, the even the
United States isn't comfortable with Israel's targeted killings of
terrorists.
There is an irony. If the United States was more forceful in its defense
of Israel's right to self-defense, it might not find itself be
questioned as severely when it pursued the same strategy.
According to the article the New York Times is a party along with the
ACLU seeking more information about the drone program. The Times also
cited Gregory D. Johnsen, who recently wrote an op-ed
for the paper criticizing the policy. It would seem that
administration's strategy of killing terrorists is one area where it
cannot expect the unquestioning support of the New York Times.
According to the Long War Journal, since 2006 American drones have killed 2431 terrorists and only 139 civilians. (h/t Jim Roberts)
2) Money supply, sex and the peace process
“Everything reminds Milton Friedman of the money supply. Everything
reminds me of sex, but I try to keep it out of my papers.” (Robert
Solow)
In Morsi's Moment Thomas Friedman got some things right.
In other words, is Egypt ready to sacrifice the Camp David peace,
U.S. aid and economic development to support Hamas’s radical,
pro-Iranian agenda, or not?
The answer from Cairo was no. President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim
Brotherhood’s party did not want to get dragged into a total breach with
Israel on behalf of Hamas, and instead threw Egypt’s weight into
mediating a cease-fire.
This is just about right for now.
But Friedman can't leave well enough alone.
It is impossible not to be tantalized by how much leverage Morsi
could wield in the peace process, if he ever chose to engage Israel.
Precisely because he represents the Muslim Brotherhood, the vanguard of
Arab Islam, and precisely because he was democratically elected, if
Morsi threw his weight behind an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, it
would be so much more valuable to Israel than the cold peace that Sadat
delivered and Hosni Mubarak maintained. Sadat offered Israelis peace
with the Egyptian state. Morsi could offer Israel peace with the
Egyptian people and, through them, with the Muslim world beyond.
Ironically, though, all of this would depend on Morsi not becoming a
dictator like Mubarak, but on him remaining a legitimately elected
president, truly representing the Egyptian people. That is now in doubt
given Morsi’s very troubling power grab last week and the violent
response from the Egyptian street. President Obama has to be careful not
to sell out Egyptian democracy for quiet between Israel and Egypt and
Hamas. We tried that under Mubarak. It didn’t end well.
Friedman's is one trick pony who believes that all problems of the
Middle East can be solved by solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Well, no things did not end well for Mubarak, but the peace lasted for
more than 30 years. It's interesting too, that Friedman now is so
concerned for Egyptian democracy, ten months ago he was cheering on
the Muslim Brotherhood. Have Morsi's power grabs actually surprised
him? (He compared the Muslim Brotherhood's coming to power in Egypt as
following the AKP's ascendancy in Turkey. Why is he surprised now? Oh
that's right, he was a cheerleader for the AKP too.)
No doubt Morsi’s price for engaging with Israel would be the Arab
Peace Initiative — full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Arab
East Jerusalem, save for mutually agreed-upon land swaps, and some
return of refugees, in return for full normalized relations. If Morsi
advanced such a proposal in direct talks with Israelis, he could
single-handedly revive the Israeli peace camp.
It's important to remember what the Arab Peace Initiative is. It was the
brainchild of Thomas Friedman and then Crown Prince Abdullah of the
Arab League. It was a public relations stunt designed to undermine
international support for Israel's efforts to defeat the "Aqsa Intifada"
and shore up support for Saddam Hussein. Who represented the Arab
League in those day? Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt Muamar
Qadaffi of Libya. Also Bashar Assad of Syria. In other words the leaders
who represent the pre-"Arab spring" were the ones who signed on to the
initiative. And of course, one reason any of these despots supported the
Palestinians was to misdirect attention away from their own misrule.
Cheerleaders like Friedman were more than happy to give them cover.
Do I expect that? No more than I expect to win the lottery. The
Muslim Brotherhood has long hated the Jewish state, as well as political
and religious pluralism and feminism. Therefore, here’s what I do
expect: More trouble between Israel and Hamas that will constantly
threaten to drag in Egypt. Hamas is a shameful organization. It
subordinates the interests of the Palestinian people to Iran (and
earlier to Syria), which wants Hamas to do everything it can to make a
two-state solution impossible, because that will lock Israel into a
permanent death grip on the West Bank, which will be the undoing of the
Jewish democracy and will distract the world from Iran’s and Syria’s
murderous behaviors.
Is Friedman for real? Hamas is "shameful?" Really. Murderous is a more
apt description. But notice Friedman can't even fault Hamas for
terrorism, but for "undoing Jewish democracy." Friedman's perspective is
completely skewed by his blind worship of the peace process. Is Israel
about to cease being a democracy? No. Are the Palestinians about to have
a state of their own? No. These are two separate issues. No matter how
many times Friedman equates the two doesn't make his perspective any
more correct.
Israel left all of Gaza in 2005, and Hamas had a choice: It could
recognize Israel, have an open border and import computers, or it could
continue to deny Israel’s existence, keep the border sealed, and smuggle
in rockets. It chose rockets over computers. With each rocket that
lands near Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, another Israeli says, “How can we
possibly let go of the West Bank and risk our airport being shut down?”
That is just what Hamas and Iran want — a permanent, grinding,
democracy-eroding, legitimacy-destroying, globally isolating Israeli
occupation of the West Bank — and they are very happy to use the
Palestinian people as a human sacrifice for that goal.
The best way for Israel to undercut Hamas is by empowering the secular
Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank to gain
greater independence and build a thriving economy, so every Palestinian
can compare which strategy works best: working with Israel or against
Israel. This Israeli government has failed to do that. It is so
shortsighted. But Hamas makes it easy for Israel to get away with that
by ignoring what we know from history: that whoever makes the Israeli
silent majority feel morally insecure about occupation, but
strategically secure in Israel, wins. After Sadat flew to Jerusalem,
Israelis knew there was no way morally that they could hold onto the
Sinai and strategically they no longer felt the need. When King Hussein
of Jordan and Yasir Arafat did the same, they each got land back. Today,
nothing makes Israelis feel more strategically insecure and morally
secure with occupation than Hamas’s stupid rocket attacks, even after
Israel has withdrawn.
Ten years earlier Israel withdrew from most of the West Bank, shedding
responsibility for 90% of the Palestinians. What happened? Did Arafat
create the institutions of a functioning state? Or did he take the
territory he was handed and use it to encourage terror against Israel?
The dysfunction of the Palestinian Authority under Arafat continues to
this day. Israel can't empower Abbas; they have no real constituency to
make peace. The culture Arafat and later Abbas presided over places a
premium on resistance and denying legitimacy to Israel. Friedman argues
that the perfectly reasonable Israeli fear of terror is "democracy
eroding." Somehow, though, the ideology that advocates terror as long as
one's demands are not met is not illegitimate.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, drone, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Hamas, Middle East Media Sampler, Mitt Romney, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, Soccer Dad, targeted killings
Breaking: IDF assassinates head of Hamas rocket program
Here's another
big fish.
The IDF
assassinated the head of Hamas' rocket program, Yahyia Byya, after a
heavy barrage of rocket fire engulfed Ashdod Sunday afternoon.
The assassination was directly ordered by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.
Army sources say that Byya was directly responsible for the majority of rockets that have been fired on Israel.
Where's his replacement?
Labels: Operation Pillar of Defense, targeted killings
