Full Command from Damascus Hamas Headquarters
Is lighting up bad news in its Gaza Strip Activities
In the form of kidnapping attempts and Missiles
Hamas Seems to be Anxious
for a Showdown!
December 21, 2010
Begin Excerpt 1
Why Hamas has revived its missile, kidnapping attacks
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
December 21, 2010, 9:38 AM (GMT+02:00)
The escalating Palestinian violence from the Gaza Strip is the direct result of the Damascus-based Khahled Meshaal’s victory in his power struggle with the Gaza wing’s leadership. Today, this hardliner is in complete control of all wings of the fundamentalist Palestinian movement.
Dec. 13, He celebrated the 23rd anniversary of Hamas’s foundation by reiterating the Palestinian goal to seize all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. His signature is clearly marked in escalating missile, mortar and raiding attacks, murderous kidnapping operations inside Israel and the deadlocked negotiations for liberating the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit in a prisoner swap.
Under his orders, Hamas-Gaza has itself taken over the missile, mortar and raiding attacks on Israel from the fringe groups like Jihad Islami and Al Qaeda-linked cells heretofore. When they land on empty ground it is deliberate; of late Hamas has taken delivery of guidance instruments to improve their precision. The 10-mortar barrages of Monday, Dec. 20, marked a change in tactics, aiming straight for a military target in the Eshkol district abutting on the Gaza Strip; only by a miracle no one was hurt. Monday night, therefore, the Israeli air force spread out to hit seven sites in the Gaza Strip. Because most were unmanned, only three Hamas operatives were injured, one critically.
Then, early Tuesday, a Qassam missile came dangerously close to a kibbutz nursery school in the Hof Ashkelon area north of Gaza Strip, injuring a small girl and an adult and leaving shock victims.
By then it was obvious that Hamas was gearing up for a showdown. Still, up until Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak persisted in holding the IDF back. By refraining from exercising its deterrent strength, Israel handed Hamas the initiative over the pace of the confrontation.
Even when the Palestinian terrorists moved into their next arena over the weekend, they were treated with kid gloves.
The two “Arabs” who murdered the American tourist Christine Luken (correcting the misnomer in the first official announcements) and stabbed her companion, Kaye Wilson, Saturday, Dec. 18 near Mata in the Jerusalem hills, were in fact a Hamas kidnap gang. They planned to abduct the two women, smuggle them to the Gaza Strip possibly through the long Sinai border and hold them hostage. When Wilson managed to get away, they decided to murder their captive and escape the scene ahead of pursuit.
Israeli police commanders, after hearing a full, detailed firsthand report on the incident, refused to call it flat out an act of terrorism, although Wilson had a dozen stab wounds and had reached her rescuers with hands bound behind her back. Instead, police officers spoke vaguely about exploring different paths of inquiry and cast implicit aspersions on her testimony.
Getting away with this crime encouraged Hamas to redouble its efforts, possibly with the same kidnap team already operating in the vicinity of Jerusalem and using the same tactics.
Monday, Dec. 20, saw not only a 10-mortar barrage from the Gaza Strip, but three Palestinians armed with long knives trying to assault an Israeli soldier at Givat Zeev. T hey fled w
hen he cocked his sidearm.
The soldier took care not to shoot and injure any of his assailants – and so bring Israeli anti-terrorist authorities a valuable asset for interrogation – because he was afraid of sharing the fate faced by some of his comrades – trial by the military prosecutor and the media for responding with “disproportionate force.”
He knew what he was doing: The police spent more time casting doubt on his account – “it is being checked” – than catching the would-be kidnappers. They remain at large for more murderous abductions of Israelis.
Their handlers will have understood that they can safely press ahead with their efforts to snatch Israeli soldiers who are afraid to shoot – especially after Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told a radio interviewer Tuesday morning that he saw no sign of a Hamas “war of attrition” developing against Israel.
Khaled Meshaal’s takeover of Hamas Gaza gravely prejudices Gilead Shalit’s hopes of deliverance more than four years after he was kidnapped in a cross-border raid outside the Gaza Strip.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza’s ideologue and virtual foreign minister Mahmoud A-zahar have been elbowed aside by Meshaal’s cronies, interior minister Fathi Hamad and Ezz e-din al-Qassam commander Ahmed al-Jabary.
That act abruptly ended the controversy within the Hamas leadership over whether to accept a prisoner swap deal with Israel for Gilead Shalit’s freedom. From the first, Meshaal fought against letting the Israeli soldier go – even for all the 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.
For him, Shalit is an irreplaceable asset for enhancing his international prestige by bringing world leaders to his door to plead for the Israeli soldier’s release. By this means, Hamas gains international legitimacy and recognition as a force to be reckoned with in the region rather than a bunch of rabid terrorists.
Hamas’ military commander, Jabari, holds the Israeli soldier locked away from all contact with the outside world in an underground cell as an insurance policy against any Israeli attempts to liquidate him. He has sent backdoor message to Israel that Shalit’s jailors are under orders to respond to his untimely death by killing their Israeli captive.
These brutal facts have clearly not been brought home to Gilead’s desperate parents who have vowed to remain in a tent opposite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence and not go home until they can take their son with them. They are protesting what they call the government’s lack of courage and determination to obtain his release, when in fact they are dealing with a government which is in paralyzing denial over the escalating threats posed by Hamas.
Intensive IDF Training for Future War with Lebanon
France supplies 100 high tech anti-tank Missiles to Lebanon
Which one may rest assured will be used against tanks of the IDF
At Some Point in Time When the Arab-Israel War Begins Prior to 2015
December 21, 2010
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt 2 from JPOST.COM STAFF
France to supply Lebanon with 100 anti-tank missiles
By JPOST.COM STAFF
17/17/2010 10:42
Shipment to be delivered by February with no conditions attached, French official says; letter of confirmation sent to PM Hariri.
France will supply 100 anti-tank missiles to Lebanon, a government official said Friday, confirming a deal that raised concerns in earlier this year, AFP reported.
“[Lebanese] Prime Minister Saad Hariri was informed on Wednesday of the French decision to supply the army with 100 … HOT missiles that will be used by the military’s Gazelle helicopters,” the official told AFP.
The official confirmed that “the missiles will be delivered before the end of February and are being given with no conditions attached.”
A letter to that effect had been sent to Hariri, the office of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon confirmed.
Israel and the US have attempted to prevent the arms deal saying that it could lead to increased Israeli casualties in any future confrontation.
The US State Department has been working since early August to allay the concerns of members of Congress who have put a hold on funding to the Lebanese military following the deadly border incident that left IDF Lt.-Col. (res.) Dov Harari dead.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has defended US military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces as something that’s “in [the US’s] national interest and contributes to stability in the region.”
Begin Excerpt 3 from YNet News
IDF holds drill in preparation for Lebanon confrontation
IDF finishes intensive training event in preparation for possible war with Lebanon. ‘I don’t belittle situation in Gaza Strip, but Lebanon is a different story.” 401st Brigade Commander Enav Shalev says
Hanan Greenberg
December 16, 2010
The IDF on Thursday evening completed one of the most extensive drills it has held in recent years.
Two combat units were involved, the Nahal Infantry Brigade and the 401st Brigade. The collaborative training event took place in the Golan Heights on the border with Lebanon, which is considered a particularly volatile zone in light of recent developments, including a mysterious explosion off the coast of Sidon.
Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of armored vehicles dealt with simulated antitank missiles, rockets and mortar shells – as well as motorcycle-riding Hezbollah operatives. The deep mud caused by last weekend’s rain storm made the drill even more challenging.
“These are two brigades that fight shoulder to shoulder,” a senior officer told Ynet.
“The training facilitated a simulation of an operational environment, which requires the commanders to talk among themselves, for example to coordinate fire… These are the things that we expect to happen during combat.”
Considering Lebanon’s recent report that its military experts have dismantled alleged Israeli spy equipment, IDF officials emphasized that the escalated army activity was for training purposes only.
The senior officer said the intensive exercise and the IDF’s new technology will boost troops’ capabilities on the battlefield. “It is now possible to shoot a larger number of targets over a shorter period of time,” he said.
Soldiers stayed in tanks for 14-15 hours
Each of the two brigades, which belong to the 162nd Division, has been designated a role for a possible confrontation with Hezbollah. The drill was the closing event in a training process that has lasted for 13 weeks. As part of the event, 401st Brigade tanks have driven across no less than 8,000 km (4,970 miles), mostly in mountainous terrain.
“In some cases, the soldiers didn’t leave the tank for 14 or 15 hours, you do what you have to do inside,” the 401st Regiment commander Enav Shalev said. “Lebanon’s story is the mountainous terrain, the antitank missile. We learn from it, we come there humbly.
I respect my enemy, I know he trains and studies, and makes my people sweat despite the severe cold.”
Various new technologies were tested during the drill, among them a digital communications system which allows for quick transfer of assignments from one unit to another through a computer screen. IDF sources say that the system greatly improves operational efficiency.
“The ability to activate the air force has been made easier, considering the significant preparation that has been taking place, with emphasis on collaborative learning,” the senior officer explained.
The active protection system dubbed Windbreaker has also been put into use, allowing tanks to perform assignments previously deemed too dangerous.
Various scenarios were tested as part of the drill, at the end of which the two brigades fought each other. IDF officials note that this exercise has taken military training to the next level.
“We conducted a battlefield simulation, in the most advanced way possible for the army,” Shalev said. “Each exercise had targets that rose and fell at particular times, and each target had cameras that allowed us to examine what really happened.
“The bottom line is, we faced everything that could happen on the Lebanon side,” he added.
‘Next war, we’ll do better’
Under normal circumstances, the 401st Regiment secures all the problematic zones, especially the Gaza Strip. In case of combat, according to Shalev, the troops are primarily preparing for a confrontation with Hezbollah.
“I don’t belittle what is going on in Gaza, we have many challenges that must be dealt with there, but Lebanon is a different story,” he said. “The (commander) who trains for Lebanon properly, and challenges his people in preparation for Lebanon, will be ready (for Gaza) as well.”
When it comes to the intelligence that reaches the strategic forces – an area that turned out to be problematic during the Second Lebanon War – Shalev said that he certain that he gets all the information he can possibly get. “I don’t think there’s one person today at the level of second lieutenant level or even lower, who wouldn’t know what to expect in Lebanon if he is sent there tomorrow.”
A senior officer noted that the drill has made the combat forces confident in their abilities.
“When it comes to being qualified, we are in the best place that a commander can aim for,” he said. “I have no doubt that in the next war, the results will be better.”
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