WarSclerotic

Netanyahu: Killing of PRC heads ‘only beginning’ of Israel retaliation – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Netanyahu visits soldiers wounded in south Israel attacks that left eight dead, over 20 wounded, says Israel has ‘policy of extracting ‘very high price from anyone who causes us harm’.

By Barak Ravid and Haaretz

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the targeted killing of the Popular Resistance Committee heads was only the beginning of Israel’s response to the attacks in South Israel Thursday that left eight Israelis dead and over twenty wounded.

Netanyahu made his statement while visiting soldiers who had been wounded in the attacks at Soroka Hospital Be’er Sheva.

	PM Benjamin Netanyahu visits soldiers wounded in south Israel terror attacks at Soroka Hospital.
	Photo by: Eli Hershkowitz

The prime minister said that the PRC officials that were killed were responsible for sending the perpetrators of the series of attacks in south Israel that targeted a bus, civilians and Israeli security forces.

“We have a policy of extracting a very high price from anyone who causes us harm, and this policy is acted upon,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu’s statements come a day after he said that Israel will respond firmly “when Israeli lives are hurt.”

In a press conference to the Israeli public, Netanyahu stated that the Israeli public has witnessed an attempt to upgrade terror attacks from Sinai, and thanked the Shin Bet as well as the Israel Defense Forces for “wiping out the leaders” of the organization behind the attacks in the Gaza Strip and preventing an “even bigger catastrophe”.

Netanyahu also sent his condolences to the grieving families and hoped for a speedy recovery for the wounded.

Let IDF into Sinai – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Deployment on border clearly insufficient; it’s Egypt’s turn to allow Israeli forces into peninsula

Israel’s anti-terror defense strategy and the IDF’s perception of using power on the Egypt border collapsed on Thursday. They were based on the assumption that this is a border of peace, thus equally dividing the responsibility for security on both sides of the border.

Israel also believed that Egypt, with its obsession over its sovereignty in Sinai, is responsible for providing us with security against terror attacks and smuggling from its territory – and therefore Israel is not entitled to thwart attacks in Sinai.

These assumptions were valid and even justified, apart from isolated incidents, for decades. This is how the IDF built the perception of operating its forces and preparing to secure the borderline: Namely, “mobile defense”, saving on power and resources.

There was no change even when the inflow of infiltrators from Sinai to Israel grew. Only about a year ago, the government finally decided to build a fence, which will likely provide improved security against infiltrations and terror attacks – and will be completed by 2013, if all goes as planned.

But things took a dramatic turn in the meantime. Several months ago, following President Mubarak’s downfall, the Egyptian government and security forces lost control of Sinai. Bedouin tribes, making a living off smuggling and protecting hooligans, have become the masters of the area, which turned into a shelter and hotbed for Global Jihad.

Hundreds of prisoners, members of fundamentalist Salafi organizations who escaped from prison during the upheaval, found safe shelter there. Others fled to Gaza. Many of them collaborated with Sinai’s Bedouins and set up groups called “the Islamic Shabab”, operating under the banner of Global Jihad.

The peninsula has also turned into a highway of weapon and explosive transfers to and from Gaza, and provides logistic support for the Gazan organizations led by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. They too know that the IDF will not violate the Egyptian sovereignty in Sinai and won’t raid or bomb them.

In light of this development, the defense minister has decided to speed up the construction of the fence. Some 100 kilometers (62 miles) will be built by the end of the year, in addition to the existing 45 kilometers, and the construction of all 200 kilometers will be completed next year. In any event, there is no fence in the area of the attack.

Price of ‘mobile defense’

Since February, intelligence warnings on terror attacks against Israel from Sinai have been piling up and becoming more and more frequent. The writing was on the wall, but Israel has failed to draw all the conclusions.

Indeed, the forces on the border were reinforced occasionally in accordance with intelligence information, but once the warnings faded away, they were sent elsewhere. The “mobile defense” perception with diluted forces remained unchanged while waiting for the border fence to be completed.

The Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees took good advantage of the breached border. This radical organization is comprised of people who used to belong to other organizations in the past, mainly Hamas and Fatah, but left because they were not aggressive enough for them. They were looking for action.

The Committees quickly began initiating operations against Israel, taking part in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit among other things. According to all signs and information, the main target of Thursday’s combined attack was abducting another soldier. They also planned to detonate explosive belts they were wearing on the army and rescue forces dispatched to the area.

The combined offensive was well-planned for a long time. Intelligence was collected by more than 10 people who left Gaza through the Philadelphi Route tunnels, wearing uniform resembling that of the Egyptian army.

Egyptian army cooperating with terrorists

The Israeli intelligence spotted this trend and issued warnings. The information pointed to a terror attack by the Popular Resistance Committees – likely an abduction attempt – about to take place in the Eilat area in the coming days.

But the warning was sufficiently accurate. The IDF boosted its forces in the area with Golani troops. The police sent special elite units to Eilat, likely assuming that the attack would take place within or near the city. But the terrorists surprised them. They acted north of Eilat.

The mountainous area and breached border allowed the terrorists not only to reach Israel secretly, but also to escape into Sinai shortly after carrying out the attack. They knew very well that the IDF would avoid chasing them into the peninsula so as not to violate the Egyptian sovereignty.

Forces fail to block the long border (Photo: Eliad Levy)

To be on the safe side, they chose to come out directly from an Egyptian military post located on the border. It’s unlikely that the Egyptian soldiers didn’t notice them, but they did nothing to stop them or warn the Israelis of their arrival.

Later, they even fired on IDF forces dispatched to the area, probably with the intention of covering for the terrorists who remained alive and continued to exchange fire with the Israeli soldiers. This cooperation with terrorists is a phenomenon which must be dealt with.

Let forces in despite peace deal

The Edom Division is responsible for the area in which the attack took place. The forces at its disposal are too little to block such a long border passing through a tough mountainous area. Sinai’s Bedouins are well aware of the “mobile defense” methods. What they don’t see is the technological and human intelligence collection system.

It’s reasonable to assume that this system does not have the same means and abilities as similar systems in the Gaza Strip and northern border. This is why they failed to spot the explosive devices planted in the area. It’s perfectly clear that the poor means and the army’s diluted deployment in the area are incapable of hermetically closing the border. The thousands of refugees and job seekers infiltrating Israel from this area prove it.

Now, when it’s perfectly clear that the IDF’s deployment on the border does not meet the threat, Israel must draw conclusions. The defense minister decided to speed up the construction of the fence on Thursday. In spite of the heavy financial expenses, when the situation gets tough the pockets suddenly open.

In addition, the eight-minister forum decided last week – following Barak’srecommendation – to allow additional Egyptian forces into Sinai, in spite of the fact that this is an alleged violation of the peace agreement, which bans the entry of massive Egyptian forces into the peninsula.

Egyptian operation efficient, but for who?

Indeed, the Egyptians have launched their own operation in the area. But this operation is aimed, first and foremost, at serving their own economic and governmental interests, thus focusing on northern Sinai, where the gas pipeline passes, and El Arish, the center of Egyptian rule in the peninsula.

The operation has already been partially successful. Bedouins have fled to the high mountain range of central Sinai, knowing that the Egyptian forces will face difficulties fighting them there. It’s reasonable to assume that the Thursday’s terrorists arrived from that area by car and later by foot.

It’s a known fact that offensives provide the best defense. Therefore, Israel should seriously consider demanding that Egypt let the IDF occasionally send forces into central Sinai, to the area near the border, in order to foil attacks and pursue terrorists. At least until the border fence is fully completed. We let them send their forces in, now it’s their turn to show some flexibility.

If they refuse, it may be necessary to recruit American pressure on the Egyptian High Military Council to accept the demand or use a firm hand, just like it’s doing in northern Sinai.

As for the Israeli side, i.e. the IDF, answers are still required for at least two questions in light of Thursday’s events:

• In light of the warning received, why didn’t the IDF stop civilian vehicles from travelling along the border without military escort?
• In light of the anarchy in Sinai and the slow process of constructing the border fence, why wasn’t the intelligence and lookout deployment on the border reinforced, including with UAV flight day and night? Have we once again fallen into costly complacency?

I have no authorized answers to these questions right now. It’s quite possible that the answer is imbedded in the questions themselves.

Suicide bomber kills, injures Egyptian forces … JPost – Defense.

    A number of Egyptian soldiers were killed and injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up on the Egyptian side of the border with Israel on Friday morning near The Philadelphi Route crossing.

Security officials said that the suicide bomber was thought to belong to the Popular Resistance Committees, the organization who orchestrated the terror attacks near Eilat on Thursday that left eight people dead.

On Thursday, two Egyptian security personnel were killed during an IDF raid on terrorists along the Egyptian Israeli border, an Egyptian army official told Reuters..

The army official said the men from the Central Security force were killed as the IDF chased terrorists along the border of Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Taba in South Sinai and Eilat.

“An IDF plane had been chasing militant infiltrators along the border between Taba and Eliat and one Egyptian Central Security officer and a Central Security man were caught in the line of fire,” the army official said.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report August 19, 2011, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)

Terrorists attack southern Israel

After the Israeli Air Force struck 12 Hamas and other terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday, Aug. 18,  a hail of missiles hit the towns of  Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon and the smaller Sdot Negev, Shar Hanegev and Eshkol villages in a continuous blitz Friday, Aug. 19. Six worshippers were injured – one seriously – when one of the six Grads aimed at Ashdod hit a synagogue. The town’s population is advised to stay in sheltered spaces.  Iron Dome is in action in Ashkelon. Red alerts have sounded in Gedera, Kiryat Gath and Gan Yavne.
Since 20 heavily armed gunmen killed eight Israelis and injured 33 in a multiple terrorist attack outside Eilat in southern Israel Thursday, Israel’s armed forces, police and emergency services have been on high alert and reinforced. All weekend public events were cancelled in the South.
In the attack, gunmen from Gaza crossed the unfenced border from Egyptian into southern Israel and attacked two buses, two civilian cars and a military vehicle in an unfolding, complex terrorist operation which bore the signature of the Lebanese Hizballah and possibly al Qaeda fugitives from Iraq.

Seven were located and killed by police and army special forces. Shortly after the Palestinian attack, the Israeli Air Force struck a building in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, killing the six top leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees which directed the attack along with other Palestinian groups linked to al Qaeda. Israel’s overnight air strikes hit more PRC as well as Hamas installations, weapons stores and smuggling tunnels.

Israeli forces backed by helicopters dropping flares combed the 70 kilometers of borderland running south from the Gaza Strip along the Egyptian Sinai border to flush out escaped terrorists and explosives traps. The searches continue Friday. The death Thursday night of Border Police Counter-Terror Unit’s Senior NCO Paskal Avrahami, 49, from Jerusalem, raised the day’s toll from terrorist attacks to eight. He was killed by one of the terrorists at large who had crossed back into Sinai.
1st Sgt. Moshe Naftali, 22, from Ofra, member of the Golani unit, was killed in the multiple attacks earlier that day. The other six victims were civilians.
Egyptian forces carrying out an anti-terror operation in Sinai were beefed after the multiple attack in Israel to block further passage of terrorists from Gaza into Israel. One unit traded shots with a suicide team early Friday after Egyptian chief of staff Gen. Sami Annan paid an overnight visit to the Sinai forces.

Chaos on its borders could see Israel’s worst fears realised – Telegraph.

Israel disliked the Arab Spring from the beginning, and especially the overthrow of its long-term strategic ally, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

Wounded Israeli soldiers are treated at the site of a shooting along the border with Egypt. Photo: AP

In the Negev desert yesterday, their first fears were realised. Their worst fears remain on the horizon, but as Syria descends into chaos, Libya’s civil war heads towards an uncertain end and Iran and Hizbollah seek to distract attention from recent strategic setbacks, they loom ever larger.

The Israeli Defence Force insisted that the gang that carried out the well-planned attack came originally from Gaza. Nevertheless, they came through Egypt’s Sinai desert via what is increasingly looking like a weak spot in Israeli defences.

It was once the only border they could rely on.

While attention has focused on the decision by the interim government in Egypt partially to reopen the border crossing with Gaza at Rafa, of just as great a significance was the general lawlessness into which parts of the country were plunged as President Mubarak fell from power.

Nowhere was that more the case than the Sinai. Under the Camp David agreement which saw it returned to Egyptian sovereignty three decades ago, Cairo promised the peninsula would remain demilitarised.

But the police force collapsed in the early days of the Egyptian revolution, its eagerness to shoot protesters dead forcing its withdrawal from the streets. In Sinai, with no army to take over, and where Bedouin tribes and militants had always used the mountains as a shield from the authorities, that left a vacuum.

As recently as Tuesday the Egyptian army – after getting agreement from the Israelis – launched an operation against what is said to be a fully-functioning al-Qaeda cell in the Sinai town of El-Arish.

Israel is often accused of paranoid behaviour, but whatever its treatment of the Palestinians directly under its security umbrella there is no doubt that many Arab groups are out to get it. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has already allowed a mass incursion into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as a diversion from his woes. Meanwhile Israel fears that Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is gearing up to provoke another war over the Lebanese border. Security experts are also concerned at what might happen to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s known stocks of chemical weapons – mainly mustard gas – if and when he falls.

The rebel leadership would no doubt promise to secure them and hand them over to a third party for disposal, but whether it has the means first to prevent them falling into the arms of the numerous militias that have sprung up, few likely to be friendly towards Israel, is another matter. The desert then provides a ready smuggling route to Israel’s frontiers.

Whatever the outcome of current debates in Egypt about its future – military, Islamist or liberal – none of the participants has any interest in provoking an immediate conflict with Israel.

But now, the principal official response seemed to be denial. In the coming hours, both Israel and the West will be watching for something fuller, as a major test of the country’s intentions.

Southern Israel hit by rocket fire – Israel News, Ynetnews.

At least 10 rockets fired at southern communities, including Beersheba area overnight. Rocket explodes near haredi yeshiva in Ashdod leaving two injured

Shmulik Hadad

Less than half an hour earlier, a Color Red siren was sounded in the Ashdod and Gedera area. A rocket hit an open area near Ashdod. No injuries or damage were reported.

At least 10 rockets were fired at Israel’s southern communities overnight on Friday, less than a day after eight Israelis were killed in multiple terror attacks near Eilat.

At around 8:10 am two rockets were fired at Ashdod and Gedera and a Color Red siren was sounded in the area. One of the rockets exploded near a haredi yeshiva in Ashdod. Two people sustained light to moderate wounds and several suffered anxiety attacks. Minor damage was caused to the building. The other rocket apparently landed in an open field.

Earlier, at around 5:50 am, a siren was sounded in Beersheba and shortly thereafter a blast was heard as a rocket hit an open field near the city.

A rocket also exploded south of Gedera. Rockets were also fired at the Eshkol and Shaar Hanegev regional councils. Sirens were sounded in Ashkelon and Ashdod. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

IDF strikes Gaza targets (Photo: Reuters)

Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovitch called on residents to adhere to instructions by the defense establishments. An Iron Dome battery was deployed in the city.

Also Friday morning, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at Gan Yavne and landed in an open field. Thirty minutes later an additional rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage in both cases.

Earlier, a Color Red alarm was sounded three times across southern communities. In two cases, rockets hit open areas in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, and in one case in an open field in the Sdot Negev Regional Council.

A total of four rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Thursday, two of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. The rockets had been aimed at residential areas. The other two rockets exploded in open areas. Security forces scanned the area. No injuries or damage were reported.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Air Force launched extensive strikes in the Gaza Strip. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed that IAF jets attacked seven targets in the Gaza Strip in response to Thursday’s terror attacks and the firing of rockets at southern communities.

According to the statement, two terror centers and an arms manufacturing warehouse were attacked in the northern Strip, while two smuggling tunnels, a terrorist tunnel and a terror center were attacked in southern Gaza.

Palestinians reported that a fire had broken out in one targeted area which left one teen dead and dozens injured.

On Thursday, the IDF bombed a Rafah building where senior members of the Popular Resistance Committees, who were behind the Eilat terror attacks, were staying.

Palestinian sources reported that six people were killed in the strike, including Kamal Nirab, commander of the PRC’s military wing and Khaled Shaath, a senior member of the terror group.

It appears Shaath’s son or daughter were among the fatalities. Imad Hamad and Khaled al-Masri, who were both involved in a number of terror attacks against Israel including the abduction of Gulad Shalit were also killed in the attack.

Ilana Curiel and Tova Dadon contributed to this report