The Iranian training that Hamas is getting is making their terrorists more deadly and effective.
Three Givati Brigade soldiers were killed Wednesday morning during intense clashes with a Palestinian terror cell near the security fence in central Gaza. Three other soldiers sustained light to moderate injuries in exchanges of fire that erupted in the area.
[…] At around 6 am soldiers manning an IDF observation post identified a terorr cell which reportedly consisted of six Palestinian gunmen approaching the security fence near Kibbutz Be’eri in an apparent attempt to infiltrate Israel. A force from Givati’s Tzabar Battalion that was called to the scene entered 500 meters deep into Palestinian territory.
The terror cell managed to flee to a nearby vantage point, and two gunmen were sent to set off explosives near the Israeli troops. Two of the soldiers who were hit died of their wounds a short time later, and another was pronounced dead some two hours later at Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center. Two of the wounded soldiers were being treated at Soroka, while another soldier was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
[…] According to Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, eight members of the organization split into two cells ambushed the Israeli soldiers.
“When the force advanced it ran into our cell, which launched mortars and opened fire at the soldiers,” he said. “The IDF force began retreating but was then attacked by the second Hamas cell, which opened fire with automatic weapons.”
Obeida said the operation was part of a defense tactic the group refers to as “Field of Death”, adding that the incident was a mere prelude to the violence that will erupt in Gaza “if the siege continues”.
Putting aside all the Glorious Soldiers For Allah bullshit, this is a shift in tactics that drew the IDF soldiers into an ambush.
Dr Gadi Shaked, head of the trauma ward at Soroka, said that three of the injured soldiers arrived at the hospital via helicopter at approximately 8 am. According to him, one of them arrived in serious condition with bullet wounds to his limbs and died on the way to the operating room.
Dr Shaked said another soldier was evacuated with moderate gun wounds to his stomach, and a third arrived at the medical center with light injuries to his arm.
It was a good ambush. And this is not good news:
An initial investigation into the incident found that the soldiers acted in accordance with IDF procedures.
Then IDF procedures are going to have to be changed. The terrorists have trained in Iran and are no longer semi-trained terrorists with guns. They are now terrorists with guns who know how to shoot, set an ambush, and kill the soldiers who respond to their trap. The kill ratio in this operation was four Hamas terrorists for three IDF soldiers—ambush or not, that’s extremely unusual.
As for the AP, they don’t mention the wounded Israeli soldiers in the lede, but they mention Hamas wounded. And there’s a new boilerplate about the kassam rockets fired into Israel on a near-daily basis:
Israel’s army frequently raids the Gaza Strip or launches air strikes to target militant squads that launch rockets at Israel almost daily. The inaccurate rockets wreak panic on southern Israel and occasionally cause casualties.
Because gee, there’s nothing inherently wrong with firing rockets into a civilian population on a regular basis. Hey, what’s a little panic and an occasional casualty? Walk it off, Israel. Walk it off.
Completely unreported by the AP was this mortar attack, and subsequent hit on an Israeli house:
On Tuesday, Givati Brigade and Armored Corps troops operating in the Kissufim area fired at a Kassam launching cell, and confirmed hitting it, the IDF said. The soldiers came under heavy mortar and anti-tank fire. No troops were wounded.
[…] In addition, an Israeli home was hit as Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, near the Gaza border, came under heavy mortar fire. No one was wounded, but the roof sustained mild damage.
Yep, those occasional panic attacks and casualties? Nothing to write home about, eh, AP?
It’s a good thing that most Jihadists are morons. When you mix intelligence and training with jihadism, you get stuff like this. And 9-11.
It seems if I do not agree with some of the statements made here, my reply doesn’t get approved.
I just am wondering how you know that these terrorists were trained by Iran, and not, Saudi Arabia?
I thought Hamas was a Sunni group, and Iran is Shittite, so that confuses me a bit. As generally Shittites don’t support Sunni groups. They have extreme differences.
If this doesn’t get posted, I’ll just quit, as its appears one must totally agree-or your not approved. Interesting.
Actually, the claim that Iran cannot support a Sunni terrorist group because it is Shiite has been dis-proven many times. The fact that Iran has been giving Al-Qaida weapons and training has been pointed out in a number of military, press, and blog reports. Similarly, the claim that the jihadists would never support secularists has also been shown to be false.
Take a look at a number of the reports from Iraq by the various milbloggers such as Michael Yon or at the Wall Street journal articles on the subject.
The Arabs follow the principle of
As an example take a look at this article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102121.html
or this one http://www2.nysun.com/article/46032
Oh, bullshit. Your response went into moderation for some reason or other. It was approved. You’re on the wrong thread. Try looking at the Jimmy Carter thread.
Astara,
If you think that Shi’a and Sunni Muslims do not cooperate against the USA and Israel because of hostilities dating back to the 7th Century your view is ignorant and superficial. Go learn, as Sabba has pointed you to relevant posts. The Jihadists will settle who should have been Caliph in 632 after they have settled with the USA, the Jews, and Western Civilization. In the meantime, you are probably one of their targets. Keep that in mind at all times.
The “Shia/Sunni don’t cooperate”thing is another Liberal Myth perpetuated by the Democratic Party as a part of their massive propoganda campaign against the Iraqi war. The interesting thing about it is not only is it completely wrong, but if you think about it, it’s very simplistic and racist. Kind of like the Democratic Primary, but I digress…
Robert