Israeli Security Agency Shabak vs Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
Extracts: Motivated pursuers using advanced technology and brute force have yet to pin down their cautious quarry
A video recorded on Hamas security cameras -- How helpful! leaving the footage! at about the same time, on 10 October 2023 and found by the Israeli military some months later, shows Sinwar following his wife and three children through a narrow tunnel and disappearing into the murk
According to Gaza health officials 41,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in a devastating Israeli response that has flattened much of the territory, driving 90% of the population from their homes and bringing 2.3 million people to the edge of famine
Through all this, the prime target of the Israeli bombardment has remained at large and apparently unscathed
The nearly year-long hunt for Sinwar has involved a mix of advanced technology and brute force as his pursuers have shown themselves prepared to go to any lengths, including causing extremely high civilian casualties, to kill the Hamas leader and destroy the tight circle around him
The hunters are a taskforce of intelligence officers, special operation units from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military engineers and surveillance experts under the umbrella of the Israeli Security Agency, more widely known by its Hebrew initials or the acronym Shabak
Personally and institutionally, this team is seeking redemption for the security failures that allowed the 07 October 2023 assault to happen. But despite their motivation, they have so far failed to pin down their quarry
There is no shortage of expertise among Sinwar’s hunters
Targeted killings have been a core tactic of Israel’s military since the founding of the state. Since the second world war, Israel has assassinated more people than any other country in the western world
Yahalom, a special section within the Combat Engineering Corps, has more experience in tunnel warfare than any of its counterparts in western armies and has access to state-of-the-art US-made ground-penetrating radar
The clandestine signals intelligence unit 8200 is a global leader in electronic warfare and has been eavesdropping on Hamas communications for decades -- Yet dropped the ball 07 October 2023 massacre -- which has led Israel to the terrible place they are now in -- Global pariah on the world stage
Despite the capabilities of this formidable taskforce, it has come close to catching Sinwar just once, in a bunker beneath his home town of Khan Younis in late January
The assumption made by Sinwar’s trackers is that he has long since abandoned using electronic communication, well aware of the skills and technology possessed by his pursuers
It was not only Hebrew that Sinwar studied in Israeli jail but also the habits and culture of his enemy
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“Sinwar really understands the basic instincts and the deepest feelings of Israeli society” said Michael Milshtein, now at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University “I’m quite sure every move Sinwar makes is based on his understanding of Israel”
But but.... Sinwar's been out of Israel's 'inner circle'! for 13 years when Sinwar was released in prisoner exchange in 2011
Sinwar still communicates with the outside world, albeit with apparent difficulty
The long negotiations over a ceasefire in Cairo and Doha have often been paused while messages are sent to and from the subterranean commander
One strong possibility is that Sinwar uses couriers to remain in command, drawn from a small and shrinking coterie of aides he trusts, starting with his brother Mohammed, a senior military commander in Gaza
It is the hope of the team hunting Sinwar that the need for contact with couriers, to issue orders and control the hostage negotiations, will ultimately prove his undoing, just as a courier led American trackers over several years to Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan
