Israel kills PRC leadership in Gaza airstrike – JPost – Defense.

Photo by: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

    Israel’s response to the terror attacks from the Sinai Peninsula came swiftly Thursday evening when the Israel Air Force bombed the southern Gaza Strip, killing the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), who had orchestrated the attacks.

At least seven Israelis, including a soldier from the Golani Brigade, were killed earlier in the day in a multiple-stage attack carried out by PRC members who infiltrated into Israel from Egypt.

The PRC terrorists killed in the retaliatory IAF airstrike included the head of the terror group Kamal Nirab, who the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, personally directed and planned the attack.

Another terrorist killed in the strike was identified as Amas Hamed, commander of the PRC’s military wing and a resident of Rafah. The Shin Bet said that Hamed was involved in the abduction of Gilad Schalit over five years ago and oversaw numerous terror attacks against Israel including suicide bombings and rocket attacks.

Two other known PRC terrorists, including one who was also involved in Schalit’s abduction, were also killed in the airstrike.

“The terrorists were directly involved in the attacks along the Israeli-Egyptian border,” a security official said.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel would respond forcefully and that the terrorist groups behind the attack would pay a price for their actions.

“I set a principle that when Israeli citizens are hurt we will respond immediately and forcefully,” Netanyahu said. “This principle will also be applied today.”

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the IDF would escalate its response to the attacks. He said that Egypt had lost its grip over the Sinai Peninsula and that terrorist organizations were able to move around there freely.

“The IDF has already struck the heads of the PRC in Gaza and if there will be a need, the strikes will intensify,” Barak said. “The IDF will use all of the force necessary to protect Israel’s citizens and to enable a normal way of life in the country.”

On Thursday night, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed south of Ashkelon. Defense officials ordered security officers in communities along the border with Gaza to prepare for an escalation in rocket fire. The Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system later intercepted a Grad-model Katyusha rocket fired from the Gaza Strip at Ashkelon.

PRC Spokesman Abu Mujahed released a statement that Israel would be held responsible  for “all the consequences of its crimes,” according to the Maan news agency.

Multiple terror attacks rock south; 7 killed – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Four terror attacks near Eilat claim seven lives, leave 31 injured as passenger bus, military patrol and private car targeted; IDF kills seven terrorists. Security forces declare high alert in southern sector

Ynet reporters

Terrorists armed with heavy weapons, guns and explosives launched three attacks in quick succession in southern Israel near the border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Thursday, killing at least seven people and wounding 31 more, officials said.   The assailants targeted a passenger bus, a military patrol and a private car. “We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel,” said IDF spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich. “This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis.”   Defense officials say the cell that committed the attack was comprised of 10-20 terrorists. Security forces succeeded in killing seven, and found an explosive device on one of the bodies. An additional terrorist was seen escaping into Egypt, and officials say the manhunt continues.   Officials believe the cell was planning a more extensive attack but quick responses by the IDF and special forces prevented additional casualties.   The attacks began around 12 pm, when a cell of three terrorists opened fire on Egged bus 392, heading for Eilat. Witnesses say the three, dressed in IDF uniforms, opened a barrage of fire on the bus, which was packed full of passengers. Egged bus after attack (Photo: Reuters) Authorities suspect the terrorists emerged from a white car that was following the bus. They exited the car and began spraying the bus with bullets, firing from top to bottom.   Soldiers who were on the bus returned fire, and then began to treat the wounded. The bus stopped when it reached an IDF checkpoint at Netafim junction.   A second attack, which took place at around 12:30 pm, took place near the Egyptian border. Explosive devices were detonated with the aim of hitting an IDF force headed towards the scene of the first attack. The IDF says there were a number of casualties.   In a third attack, which took place at 12:40 pm, a mortar shell exploded near a vehicle. No one was hurt.   In a fourth attack, which took place at 1:30 pm, terrorists fired at another bus and a private vehicle. In addition, an anti-tank missile was fired at the bus, but hit the private vehicle instead, killing those inside.   After the fourth attack special forces fired at the terrorists and clashes ensued. A number of terrorists were killed, according to reports.   According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, an IDF force that arrived at the scene of the first attack hit an explosive device, and soldiers were injured. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz and Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino are en route to GOC Southern Command, where they will confer with Southern Command Chief Major-General Tal Russo.   Military officials say the attack was well-planned, and that the terrorists were well-coordinated throughout. Aside from rifles, the gunmen also had a number of missiles at their disposal, and the army fears they may have been planning to kidnap a soldier. Man injured on Highway 12 (Photo: Herzl Yosef)    US condemns attack Seven of the wounded were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, according to Dr. Miki Saraf. He said one of those moderately injured is currently undergoing surgery and that a few others would probably need operations as well.   Heavy security forces presence is still noted in the area, as a massive manhunt involving IDF ground forces and aircraft is currently taking place.   Eilat Police have ordered emergency deployment in the area, and a situation room has been set up at the Yoseftal Hospital, which has declared a mass casualty event.   All of the roads leading to Eilat have been closed, as was the Ovda Airfield. Eilat’s airport has been placed on alert.   In addition, the Anti Terror Bureau released a statement Thursday evening warning Israelis against visiting Sinai. Israelis already there should leave immediately, the statement adds.   “Following the terror in the south, please note that a grave travel warning is still in effect on Sinai,” the bureau stated.   Egypt denies involvement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a security assessment following the attack. The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu was being apprised of the situation as it progressed.   “This was a grave terror attack at multiple scenes. It reflects Egypt’s failing hold on Sinai and the rise of terror elements,” Barak said. “This terror attack originated from Gaza. We will exhaust all measures against the terrorists.”   An Egyptian security official denied Thursday that Egypt had any involvement in the attacks. The official told Egyptian media that the armed terrorists operated from within Israel’s borders.   “Egypt was in no way involved in the incident, since it is difficult to penetrate the Egypt-Israel border. Moreover, it is impossible to open fire from the Egyptian side to Israel because of the distance,” he said.   Ynet learned Thursday that shortly before Thursday’s attacks, Jordan had passed a message to Israel suggesting their intelligence indicated that a terror cell was plotting such an attack.   The warning was in tow with defense establishment indications of a clear and present threats of terror in the southern sector.   AP, Ahuva Mamos, Aviel Magnezi, Ilana Curiel, Hanan Greenberg, Ron Ben-Yiahsi, Ezra Arbeli, Neri Brener, Roi Nahmias and Reuters contributed to this report

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report August 18, 2011, 6:09 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israel bus shot up on main highway to Eilat

Thursday, August 18, Israel had its first taste of a sophisticated al Qaeda-style coordinated terrorist operation modeled on the atrocities common in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israeli intelligence services, army (IDF) and Police were taken by surprise by the scale and slick organization of the multiple assaults that were staged near Eilat on the highway running south parallel to the Egyptian border by gunmen of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees and Palestinian organizations linked to al Qaeda.

Seven Israelis were killed, including two women, and about 40 injured in shooting attacks on two buses and other vehicles and by the roadside bombing of a military vehicle. UN personnel were quickly evacuated from the Gaza Strip and Egypt locked the Gaza-Sinai crossing as Israel prepared to mete out punishment.

debkafile‘s military sources estimate that Lebanese Shiite Hizballah experts may have aided the terrorists in setting up the complex operation.
Towards evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated that Israel’s response would be “commensurate with the breach of its sovereignty.”  Defense Minister Ehud Barak said “The source of the terror is Gaza.” He did not specify whether he knew the gunmen had in fact reached the scene of the attack from Gaza or elsewhere.

A Hamas spokesman threatened Israel with a sharp reprisal if Gaza were attacked. Terrorist facilities of Hamas and other organizations have reportedly been evacuated and Qassam, Grad and mortar batteries deployed ready for launching.

The IDF estimates that the attackers numbering at least 20 came from the Gaza Strip and took up positions near the Sinai border with Israel to wait for the signal to go ahead.

The Defense Minister, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Ganz, and Military Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi are widely blamed for falling down on precautions for protecting the South although they knew in advance that the Egyptian army was about to embark on a large-scale counter-terror operations in Sinai. Defense ministry sources admitted that they had received a heads-up on a terror attack. It was up to all three to have taken into account that Egypt’s Sinai Operation Eagle would be exploited by Palestinian or Al Qaeda terrorists to let loose against Israel. Egypt may suspend its campaign if Israel strikes back against Gaza.
US and Israeli intelligence officials reported Wednesday night, August 17, they were helping the Egyptian Sinai operation by keeping its commander abreast of Palestinian and Al Qaida movements in Sinai.

However, 12 hours later, America which maintains a network of surveillance teams and observation posts across Sinai and Israel intelligence were both shown to be at a loss for real time information on terrorist activities in the peninsula.

A multiple assault by 20 gunmen using automatic guns, RPGs, mortars and roadside bombers could not have been an off-the-cuff operation. It entailed long planning. Its participants had to receive detailed instructions and be brought to the scenes of attack to familiarize themselves with the arena.
Their spies must have spent weeks observing military and civilian vehicular traffic on the highway and carefully picked the targets.

Yet none of these activities aroused suspicion. The big question is how did the gunmen managed to drive down one of the main routes to Eilat undetected. Did they cross the border from Sinai by car without arousing the notice of the Israeli military or border police? Or did their confederates meet them with vehicles for their use on the Israeli side?

The attack itself was meticulously designed to go forward in stages.
First, a three-man cell shot up an Egged bus bringing soldiers to Eilat on leave.
An Israeli unit trying to reach the scene of attack then ran over roadside bombs planted in advance. The explosion killed or injured its passengers.

After that, several anti-tank missiles, possibly RPGs, set a second bus on fire and hit a civilian car killing four people..

A special police unit had meanwhile located the three-man team which attacked the first bus and killed them all in a firefight. Two of their bodies were found to be rigged with explosions. Four more were killed after being hunted down.
The IDF has closed all the roads to the South to traffic for more sweeps to locate missing terrorists and explosives.
Its inhabitants as far south as Eilat, Israel’s southernmost town and port, are in a high state of suspense for the IDF counter-terror operation to come.

Netanyahu promises Israeli response to Eilat a… JPost – Defense.

    Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak-Halevy on Thursday following three separate terror attacks in the area, telling him, “We’re talking about a serious incident in which Israeli citizens were hurt and the country’s sovereignty was harmed.”

He promised the mayor that Israel would respond to the attacks which killed at least seven Israelis on Thursday.

Separately, the prime minister’s office reminded Israelis that a travel warning against Sinai exists and it urged all Israelis vacationing there to leave.

Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the IDF will hunt down the perpetrators of the three-stage terrorist attack along Israel’s border with Egypt.

Barak said that Israel will strike back at the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza in response to the attacks.

Speaking from his office at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, the defense minister added that the IDF was assessing the security situation along the border with Egypt.

“The attacks demonstrate the weakening of Egypt’s control over the Sinai peninsula and the expansion of terrorist activity there,” Barak said, adding “These attacks originate in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and resolve.”

Commander of the IDF’s Edom Division, which is responsible for the border with Egypt, Brig.-Gen. Tamir Yidayi said that he had set up a command post at the scene of the attack to coordinate inter agency efforts to locate the perpetrators.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report August 18, 2011, 4:15 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israel bus attacked near Eilat

Israeli goes on highest terror alert after a string of terrorist attacks still ongoing near the Israeli-Egyptian border north of Eilat Thursday, Aug. 18 left seven Israeli soldiers and civilians dead and 33 injured. Five servicemen are in critical condition. The assailants who may have crossed in from Sinai used automatic, anti-tank weapons, mortars and roadside bombs for separate attacks on two buses and civilian and military vehicles on Highway 12 near the Israeli-Egyptian Sinai border.

All three gunmen who attacked the bus were killed in a firefight with the Israeli police force. Some 20 terrorists are estimated to have taken part in the attacks. All the highways to Eilat are closed to traffic as the entire southern region is scoured for more terrorists and bombs.

 debkafile reported earlier: A special police force located the gunmen who shot up two Israeli buses north of Eilat, Israel’s southern most town and port, and engaged them in a firefight. Casualties are reported.

The gunmen first attacked an Israeli Egged bus north of Eilat, injuring at least six passengers Thursday morning. The 392 bus carrying mostly soldiers on leave from Beersheba to Eilat came under automatic fire on Highway 12 as it passed the Netafim checkpoint on the Israeli-Egyptian border of Sinai from attackers who jumped out of a private vehicle which had been trailing the bus.  The second bus and other passing vehicles were attacked with an anti-tank weapon. An army vehicle was then blown up by a roadside bomb and another came under fire.
debkafile‘s military sources: This week the Egyptian army launched a major counter-terror operation against Islamists terrorizing the peninsula and its borderlands.
Whether he attackers came from Sinai or the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has not been finally determined.

A festival of hypocrisy – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Guy Bechor explains world’s continued silence in face of Assad massacre in Syria

Guy Bechor

So what’s going on in Syria? All is well, thanks for asking; people are being butchered as usual. And what is the world saying about it? The world is rolling its eyes to the heavens and pretends that 5,000 Syrians have not been murdered already, that tens of thousands were not wounded, and that tens of thousands were not detained by their own regime.

Why was an international coalition forged vis-à-vis the Gaddafi regime? Because the world said Gaddafi is shooting his own citizens. And what exactly is Assad doing? He has undertaken worse actions, bombarding his own citizens using battleships. Yet in this case, disconcerting silence prevails.

A coalition of dark interests allows Bashar al-Assad to act as he wishes – and he knows it. The biggest hypocrites are his Turkish neighbors, of course. Turkey’s prime minister constantly slams Israel over the nine people killed on board the Marmara, but apparently has little to say about the 5,000 people killed in Syria. Turkey has the longest border with Syria, and for a few months now the Turks are pretending to grant Assad “a final opportunity,” yet in practice they are safeguarding his regime.

The Turks are scared of a Syrian vacuum that will come at their expense. Every week, Turkish soldiers are being killed by the Kurdish underground, and the Turks fear that the Kurds will be killing their soldiers on both sides of the Syrian border.

As opposed to the reports and assessments we are hearing, it does not appear that the Turks intend to intervene in Syria militarily. That would prompt an entanglement vis-à-vis Syria’s main supporter, Iran, which does not hide its public endorsement of the murderous regime in Damascus. Another state that maintains its silence is the Shiite Iraq, which views Syria’s Alawites as close associates.

UN lost its raison d’être

So who else supports Assad’s regime? The Arab League. The one that rushes to complain against Israel at the UN Security Council over every tiny violation in Gaza, while allowing an Arab regime to butcher its own people with no interruptions. There is no longer any justification for the existence of the Arab League, which is preoccupied with one thing: Trying to embarrass Israel. The several Arab ambassadors recalled from Damascus are no more than lip service.

And who else is turning a blind eye to events in Syria? Russia, which protects Assad because of the modern, expensive dock it built at the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia needs a home base in the Mediterranean, yet as its fleet can dock in Israel too there is no need to support Assad.

The UN, which is also incapable of averting the mass carnage, has lost its raison d’être. After all, this institution was established in order to prevent new holocausts and further extermination in the wake of World War II. The UN is not even capable of issuing a condemnation of Syria.

Finally, we have President Barack Obama’s Administration. It was Obama who virtually forced a new US ambassador to return to Syria, while portraying Assad as an American ally. This showed complete failure to understand regional realities. To this day, the US has not recalled its envoy from Damascus, thereby continuing to legitimize Assad’s terrible regime of oppression.

Of course, the greatest hypocrisy being exposed at this time is that of the Syrian regime itself, which did not spare insults, incitement and lies against Israel; a tyrannical regime that pretended to be a human rights champion, while falsely portraying Israel’s democracy as a tyranny. At least this is one mask we can remove in the hypocritical global festival surrounding the ailing Syria.