WarSclerotic

IDF soldier’s murder: Shin Bet’s race against time – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Entire defense establishment mobilized to find missing IDF soldier Tomer Hazan before his absence becomes bargaining tool. Early Saturday morning, special police forces raid murderer’s home, who confesses to entire event

Yoav Zitun

Intensive Shin Bet intelligence efforts led to the dramatic investigation late Friday night into the abduction and murder of Sergeant Tomer Hazan from Bat Yam by Nidal Amar from the Palestinian village of Beit Amin, who worked with him at an Israeli restaurant. Shin Bet officials, including the organization’s director Yoram Cohen, took part in the operation to find Hazan, knowing that time was crucial in preventing past scenarios from occuring again.

The entire Shin Bet establishment took part in the investigation, which began 10 pm Friday when the first report regarding the kidnapping of an IDF soldier was received.

A preliminary investigation revealed that this case, unlike many other similar reports, was true. Within minutes, the entire security establishment was set into emergency mode, and a special command center that was opened in Tel Aviv was soon joined by another war room in the vicinity of the village of Beit Amin in the West Bank.

Sergeant Tomer Hazan

 Senior Shin Bet officials, including director Yoram Cohen, took part in the efforts, all with one clear goal: To reach the missing soldier, as soon as possible, out of fear that if it takes hours or days for him to be found, the hijackers would have succeeded in their primary goal – isolating the soldier, dead or alive, and thus guaranteeing the launch of negotiations for his return to Israel.

For this reason, Nidal, possibly with the help of additional partners, chose a good hiding place for the body: A 7-meter-deep (22 feet) well in a rocky and uncultivated field north of his village. After he murdered Hazan, in the vicinity of where the body was found, he threw the body into the pit. The murder weapon has yet to be found.

Murdered, then went to bed

Initial estimates within the security establishment point to the murder taking place Friday night. The meaning: The terrorist carried out his plan and returned to his home in Beit Amin for the night. At the same time, unprecedented intelligence efforts led the Shin Bet to conclude that the abduction was carried out in the area of Beit Amin, and at about 4 am a crucial lead in the case was received: Nidal Amar drove with Hazan to the same area 24 hours earlier.

In the war room near the village, Judea and Samaria Brigade Commander Brig.-Gen. Tamir Yadai ordered special police forces to immediately head to Amar’s home. He was pulled out of the house without any objection, together with his brothers, in a joint Shin Bet-IDF operation.

In order to solve the case, the defense establishment used a variety of intelligence tools, including drones that were persistently in the air and surveillance measures on the ground.

On Saturday morning, Nidal confessed to the murder of Hazan, and said he had done so in order to release his brother, who has been imprisoned in Israeli jail. The brother, Nur a-Din Amar, a former Tanzim activist, has been in prison for 10 years for placing explosives and planning a suicide attack. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Nidal agreed to take special IDF forces to the well in which he left the body, where it was indeed found and identified at 11:30 am. The Israeli Air Force was called to the scene in order to remove the body.

Thus, while understanding that time was of the essence, the operation to find Sgt. Tomer Hazan was concluded. Among the questions that remain unanswered and will be investigated in the next few days: What made Hazan follow Nidal to a Palestinian village in the middle of night, and whether Nidal’s imprisoned brother had taken any part in the planning of this act.

This incident joins dozens of kidnapping attempts  in the West Bank in the past year.

Despite the lock down imposed on Beit Amin and nearby villages, the Shin Bet invested heavily in providing complete secrecy for the operation. Thus, unusually, the most serious event to take place in the West Bank in recent years was not even published in Palestinian media until Saturday noon. The raid on Amar’s home was carried out after the forces prepared for any possible scenario,.

Elior Levy, Gilad Morag, Itay Blumenthal and Raanan Ben-Zur contributed to this report

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warns of dangers of dealing with US | JPost | Israel News.

DUBAI – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has warned the country’s diplomats about the dangers of dealing with US officials, according to a statement at the weekend ahead of expected diplomatic contacts between the United States and Iran.

“Historical experiences make it necessary for the diplomatic apparatus of our country to carefully and sceptically monitor the behavior of White House officials so that the righteous demands of our nation are recognized and respected by those who favor interaction,” a statement from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.

The statement was published by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Saturday evening and added that the IRGC would support initiatives that were in line with national interests and strategies set forth by Iran’s theocratic leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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The IRGC, an elite force that was established to protect Iran’s revolution in 1979, has been under pressure in the past week not to involve itself in politics and to support the new Iranian government’s goals of better diplomatic ties and improving the economy.

On Tuesday, Khamenei appeared to give his strongest endorsement yet to new President Hassan Rouhani’s attempts to initiate talks with the United States, saying he agreed with “heroic flexibility”.

Khamenei also echoed a statement by Rouhani a day earlier that there was no need for the IRGC to be active in the political arena but that it should be familiar with politics.

The United States and its allies suspect Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability and has imposed tough economic sanctions on Tehran. Iran says the program is purely peaceful.

Analysts say Rouhani will pursue a comprehensive charm offensive in the coming week while in New York for the UN General Assembly in order to set the right tone for further nuclear talks with world powers which he hopes will bring relief from sanctions.

US President Barack Obama and his aides have made clear that they are ready to test Rouhani’s intentions to seek a diplomatic solution to Iran’s long-running nuclear dispute with the West.

The White House has left open the possibility Obama and Rouhani could meet on the sidelines of the UN meeting, and a US official has privately acknowledged the administration’s desire to engineer a handshake between the two leaders, which would be the highest-level US-Iranian contact since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Saturday’s IRGC statement was published on the eve of Iran’s annual “Sacred Defense Week” to commemorate Tehran’s 1980-1988 war with neighboring Iraq. Iranian media said the IRGC and conventional armed forces would mark the occasion on Sunday with a parade to showcase their latest military advances.

The Somali Al Shabaab AQAP wing chose a Kenyan-Israeli target in Nairobi. The standoff continues.

Terrorist attack in Nairobi mall

The standoff between a 10-20 Islamist terrorists and Kenyan security forces at the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi went into its second day, Sunday, Sept.22, as the death tolld climbed to 43, with more than 150 injured, from a massive shooting and grenade attack.
debkafile’s counter-terror sources report: The Somali Al Shabaab, working under Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, singled out the Westgate mall because Israeli businesses there provided an opportunity to hit two targets – Kenya and Israel.

After releasing Muslims, the raiders held onto an unknown number of hostages, some on the ground floor where Israeli shops are located; more in other parts of the seven-floor building. Unknown too is the number of injured and possibly dead victims, including foreigners, who are still trapped in the building. American, British, Canadian and French citizens were reported killed or injured in the initial attack Saturday.
The Kenyan and Israeli authorities have blanketed with secrecy the scene inside the mall, from which a barrage of gunfire and explosions were heard during the morning. Local police and special forces are trying to force the Islamist gunmen to surrender and give up the hostages.

Israeli security experts are known to be assisting in the operation.

The US sent a commando unit to Nairobi from bases in Italy and the UK, an advance counter-terror forward team. The Cobra cabinet is holding continuous sessions in London as the situation unfolds.

In Israel, no one in authority is willing to comment on the incident, despite Israel’s involvement. Three Israelis were reported rescued from the mall Saturday, but there is no word on any who may still be trapped there.
Since its creation in 2006, the Somali Al-Shabaab has maintained strong operational ties with the Yemen-based AQAP command for its long and bloody insurgency against the Mogadishu government.  Our counter-terror sources report that the Somali wing receives training, munitions and medical care at al Qaeda’s Yemeni camps. They interact frequently by means of speedboats plying regularly between the Yemen and Somalia.

The scale of the Westgate mall attack, which was carried out by up to a score of well-trained fighting men armed with large quantities of ammunition, pointed to heavy AQAP involvement from the word go.
In the past, Al Qaeda has notoriously singled out American and Israeli targets in East Africa – the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 2002 assault on Israeli tourists in Mombasa.

However, the Nairobi attack was related to the present.

Al Qaeda’s eyes and ears in Kenya didn’t miss the military and intelligence assistance Israel renders Kenya for its operations against Islamist terror in two areas: The Israeli army and security bodies send combat equipment and provide tactical advice to the Kenyan units fighting alongside Somali government forces against Al Shabaab; and Israel’s intelligence agencies and police are helping the Kenyan government build a strong shield or barrier against the Somali war’s spillover, to guard against Al Shabaab opening up a second front to the rear of the Kenyan forces fighting across the border.
This protective barrier clearly sprang a large leak Saturday.