By Khaled Hossain
ZoneAsia-Pk
Mossad is secretly embedding Sayeret Matkal and Duvdevan forces in countries experiencing the Arab Spring to put more pressure on dictators inimical to the Zionist state
It is a matter of grave concern to see the situation in Arab countries spiral from peaceful demonstrations to violent confrontations with police and army troops. The Arab Spring is definitely a representative movement of Arab societies who have for long been marginalized, deprived, and isolated from economic and political opportunities. Masses of unemployed youths have taken to the streets, demanding change and a better future. This does not mean that there aren’t elements in Arab societies who would exploit the weaknesses of an autocratic and insensitive Arab state/dictator in this political upheaval; some would do it to exact revenge, while others would do it to exercise and exhibit power so as to benefit in any future settlement. But there is a third side to the violence that the world sees in the Arab Spring as well.
While the Zionist and expansionist state of Israel tries to hide it, the truth is that Aman, Shin Bet and Mossad are experts in training their operatives/assets (for both intelligence missions and special operations) to appear as natives when operating in a territory: this tactic has been used in Arab countries (and is alleged to be replicated in Af-Pak as well) with remarkable precision, and the only time Mossad has been allegedly caught in an operation is well after it happened. The case of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, the Hamas military commander who was killed in his hotel room in Dubai by what is alleged to be a team of covert specialists who used fake passports and identities, is one that forms part of recent memroy. Israeli operatives – who are Jewish citizens of Israel as well as of America – are trained in cultural etiquette, linguistic use along with dialects and communicative specificities, and even appear to be locals when deployed in an operational battlespace, so that security forces cannot differentiate between civilian and enemy, between friend and foe. Mahmoud al Mabhouh was taken down by a team of 6-8 operatives who went in and out of the UAE under different passports, who changed their identities regularly if not daily, and were operating under disguises and fake identities assumed from the actual holders of the passports that they had forged. Technical intelligence – hacking into Mabhouh’s room – was also involved, and his death is said to have occurred after being drugged and suffocated with a pillow. Al Mabhouh was himself travelling under an alias, but he could not protect himself from the reach of the Mossad in an Arab country. Of course, he could also not protect himself from the Mossad’s knack at executing opponents; Wikipedia has a list on Israeli assassinations from the 1960s till date.
Coming back to the Arab Spring, the problem of armed gangs and peaceful protesters is most evident in Libya and Syria; the Libyan quagmire has already spiraled out of control as the West is begging and pleading for its other allies to pitch in because the costs of Operation Unified Protector have apparently trebled in the last week alone. It is uncertain whether Syria is in a better or worse position to manage the Arab spring as each day goes by; its military operations in Homs and Jisr al Shughour show that it needs to assert its might over rioting citizens, and on the international scene, widespread condemnation does not translate into a reprimand by the UN because Russia and China will steadfastly oppose it. So, on the ground, it remains the duty of the self-proclaimed Middle Eastern superpower funded with billions of US dollars in aid and armaments – and armed with the most sophisticated technology on earth – to continue to destabilize her erstwhile enemies by using their own people against them. Syria has also fought wars with Israel, and both share a dispute over the Golan Heights – where Israel recently shot at protesters on the Syrian side, causing casualties and international uproar. What was infact a violation of international law and territorial sovereignty was overlooked because Syria’s ruling regime had enough troubles within the country. Otherwise, Syria would have used Israeli high-handedness as a pretext to attack the Jewish state (ostensibly with support from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah). But it seems that Israel was successfully able to prevent such an outcome.
One must note that armed gangs are targeting security forces as well as civilians – which is why they fulfill the role of thugs and bandits (as the state would like to portray them) but to the protesting pro-democracy civilians, they mostly appear as plain-clothes functionaries of the state (especially its intelligence and security apparatus). The use of weapons, tactics, and safe havens by these armed groups are unique to other anti-state and anti-regime militias in Arab countries which have risen up in revolt, and because of this specialty, they can embed themselves in any militia in any city where they prove their worth by defending protesters as well as supporting operations of anti-state and anti-regime militias (who are essentially taking down an enemy that they share with Israel, albeit for different reasons altogether).
At the regional and global level, Israel seemed content in its role as the only real democracy in the Middle East – however, that might change as the Arab Spring transforms into Summers, Autumns and Winters. Israel also sees concern in unrest in the neighborhood, and might try to exercise its muscle as the ‘regional superpower’ and the only country in the area with nuclear weapons. To achieve its objectives on a global scale, there is no better tool available at Israel’s disposal than the internet. A cyber-attack using the sophisticated and weaponized Stuxnet virus against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz points to Israel’s quantum leaps in cyber-technology development as well as cyber-warfare. While the US has recently come up with a cyber-strategy, Israel already seems to be far ahead of the world’s actual superpower. Using social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Tumblr and other online ‘networking’ sites, covert communications technologies suddenly become available to groups even after shutdown of nationwide infrastructure – such satellite communications and radio frequency jumping tools are usually restricted in Arab countries. But those who voice local dissent – whether right or wrong – continue to do so even if the Arab state completely shuts down all national communications.
According to sources in the Israeli intelligence community, certain analysts said that elements of Shayetet 13 and US Navy SEALs were used in the ‘terror attack’ on PNS Mehran: that the operatives either belonged to these units, or were trained by them, to attack Pakistan’s installations and weaken Pakistan’s relationship with China (whose engineers were apparently taken hostage during the attack). These sources, who were very secretive about Israel’s interests beyond the Middle East, also hinted at the elite Shaldag unit serving as forward operators for drones in the Af-Pak region. When asked whether Israeli soldiers would be performing these roles instead of assets, the reply was ‘it depends on whether we can train a person to use the technology: it is better if a local person can be trained and motivated’. Sources would neither confirm nor deny Israeli presence in Afghanistan or in Pakistan.
Further research and analysis reveals critical insights about the projection of Israeli power in the world, and how the IDF’s Duvdevan unit – the “Cherry” of the Israeli special forces – is deployed in diverse and completely unthinkable conditions to achieve objectives with pinpoint precision and accuracy. The unit is unique in several ways: it is the only IDF unit (not including police units) that has no wartime mission; it just conducts day-to-day hit and run operations according to its official mandate. The unit, unlike other SpecFor units, can operate in more than one place at once, and can operate independently. This means providing its own intelligence, backup, rescue, medical teams, extraction, snipers, demolitions, etc., making it a standalone battlespace element to be reckoned with. The unit can perform high-risk arrests, raids, targeted killing (does the word Karachi ring a bell to anyone?), kidnappings and a range of other urban warfare operations. It is usually under the command of the Judea and Samaria division (West Bank Division) of the IDF – which means it falls under an area command and not manpower/unit command. This allows the unit to operate anywhere – inside and outside Israel – and nowhere specific. Only Duvdevan and Sayeret Matkal are authorized to wear their uniforms without identifying shoulder tabs.
Operatives of the Duvdevan unit usually use following equipment: Glock pistol, Mk 19 grenade launcher, IMI Negev machine gun, Tavor TAR-21 assault rifle in all versions, Para Micro-Uzi submachine gun, M4 carbine assault rifle, Remington 870 combat shotgun, and the M24 Sniper Weapon System. According to Steve Macko, who wrote a report on the IDF Duvdevan Unit for the Emergency Response & Research Institute in 1997, Duvdevan soldiers typically drive modified civilian vehicles and wear Arab civilian clothes as a disguise. While this report has now been driven offline, it is believed that Duvdevan soldiers and operatives are creating unnecessary havoc in the Arab world, and exacerbating the violent aspects of the Arab Spring, thereby leaving no choice to the Arab state as well as the Arab street in becoming subject to escalating violence among structural divisions in the same country.
Israel must focus on peace with its Palestinian neighbors and must refrain from creating a Palestinian Bantustan without adequate sovereignty and security services. It should realize that it is as much a democracy as South Africa was during apartheid, and that the Palestinians will eventually outnumber the Jews in Israel itself. Peace and coexistence, not war and anger, are the order of the day. The Netanyahu-Leiberman combine is most ill-suited to the cause of peace in the Middle East, as it is supported by reactionary right wing elements in Israel (what some would call the ‘Jewish Taliban’) who want to aggressively expand settlements by annexing Palestinian land and forcing mass evacuations. Israel and its citizens must remember that the holocaust of 6 million Jews over 5 years does not give Israel the right to reject the holocaust of 60 million Arabs (mostly Palestinians) over the last 50-or-60 years.
Deepika's Corner 