Israeli special forces in action

[Растаман]

Israeli special forces behind enemy lines

Saaret Golani elite units carry out operation to seize Palestinian militant
The BBC correspondent received a rare opportunity to accompany elite Israeli units during the operation to seize Palestinian extremists. His report reveals the secrets of Israeli military decision making about when to try to take someone prisoner - and when to go to eliminate extremists.

Narrated by John Camphner

This is another Israeli military raid deep into Palestinian-controlled territory.

At two in the morning, a group of Israeli commandos, armed with semi-automatic weapons and grenades, takes up positions around a whitewashed house in a small town on the West Bank.

The task of the special forces is to avoid a repetition of explosions in which an innocent civilian population dies.

The group commander, whose name is Mordechai, is covered by his colleagues. He rings the doorbell. “Open it immediately,” another commandos cries in Arabic. “If you don’t open it, your house will be destroyed.”

The mission of the elite Sayeret Golani unit, which was created in 1959 to carry out sabotage and assault functions, is to arrest Nasser Zakarn, a member of the Hamas group, who has already been in Israeli prison three times.

According to intelligence reports, Zakarna should be at home with her family tonight. He must be taken alive for interrogation.

"Bombs with an established mechanism"

"The people we hunt for are like" bombs with a mechanism in place: we won’t stop until we find them, "says Colonel nicknamed Chico, commander of the Golani brigade.

Sometimes helicopters are used to eliminate extremists

Giora Eiland, head of military planning for Israeli forces, notes that the killing of those who are looking for special forces is permitted in one of four cases: the first - if it is impossible to detain them; the second - if the goal is important enough; third, if we can avoid civilian casualties; and the fourth - if there is no way to postpone or postpone the operation.

Often the people who organize the attacks - those who make the bombs, those who organize the bombing, and, finally, the suicide bombers themselves are only a few kilometers away. Therefore, special forces call their suspects "bombs with an established mechanism."

Who should live and who should die?

The internal mechanisms of action and tactics of the Israeli military machine have been kept strictly secret until now. How is intelligence gathering? How are goals set? When and how do suspects start hunting? How is the decision made, who should be arrested and whom should be killed?

For each operation, commandos carefully prepare

“The most important thing is intelligence and information gathering,” says Gidon Ezra, a former deputy head of the Shin Bet Israeli intelligence service. “In order to arrest someone, we need to know when and where he will be alone. And if it turns out that getting to this person is almost impossible - say, because he lives in the center of Bethlehem, the decision is made to kill him. "

Then the phase of careful planning of the operation begins: “For example, you became aware that he has pigeons and sometimes he goes out to feed them. In this case, a helicopter flies out and hits the suspect.”

Of course, operations involving aircraft cause sharp criticism of the Palestinians and sometimes by the international community.

West Bank Raid

Intelligence has received information that the house of Nasser Zakarn is used for the manufacture of weapons and ammunition. However, the Palestinians manage to transfer weapons to another place.

This time managed to do without victims

After several days of training and briefing, the Saeret Golani fighters are ready for the operation. Every detail of the capture of the suspect has been worked out. The unit studied the model of the Zakarna house to get an idea of the layout of the rooms.

The approach to Zakarn’s house corresponds to what was learned in training. Special forces are talking on the radio. Then the doorbell rings - one, two, three rings

Commander Mordechai gives the order to open fire on the door in order to enter the house. The dog begins to bark. At this point, the commandos are bombarded from a neighboring house. The commandos are pressed against the wall of the house and return fire.

Mordechai then orders the demoman to blow up the door. At that moment, Zakarna decides to let her family out of the house.

Like a book

Women and children leave the house, on their faces - a mixture of horror and contempt. Men are forced to kneel, their hands tied. In the house, special forces are looking for weapons and ammunition.

Zakarn and his brothers are being taken by commandos, women and children are ordered to return to the house where they are being locked.


I hope that someday this will come to an end. But this will not happen in the near future - we are not ready for this yet

Chico Unit Commander

On the one hand, it was a classic capture operation carried out in difficult conditions. Perhaps, as a result of it, another explosion was avoided.

I ask a colonel nicknamed Chico, the commander of the Golani brigade, about what will happen next.

However, it seems that the leadership of the Israeli army cannot yet give an answer to this question. When will their work end?

“I hope that someday this will come to an end,” says Chico. “But this will not happen in the near future - we are not ready for this yet.”

 

[@InfoPoisk]

Interesting, thanks.

 

[Детективное агентство ИКС-Инфо.]

Really interesting!
And our Israeli partisan disappeared somewhere

 

[Детективное агентство. Москва. Арбат.]

Yes, they know how to work!

Thank.

 

[Плотников Юрий Михайлович]

Thanks, interesting.

 

[НСК-СБ]

Thank you Nail!

 

[Детективное агентство Тула]

Thank. Informative.

 

[Евгений СБ]

Thank. Interesting.

 

[Детективное агентство Симферополь]

Thank you Nail!

 

[Игорь Коракс]

Thanks, interesting.