Analysis: The Hamas army

[Paparock]

Analysis: The Hamas army

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Hamas, once known for its suicide attacks inside Israeli cities, is no longer a small-time terrorist group, but a large guerrilla army that has well-trained forces deployed throughout the entire Gaza Strip.

Were the IDF to embark on a ground operation in Gaza, it would face an army of close to 20,000 armed men, among them at least 15,000 Hamas operatives. The rest are from Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees.

Since the cease-fire went into effect in Gaza in June, Hamas has used the lull in action to fortify its military posts in the Strip and dig tunnel systems as well as underground bunkers for its forces. IDF estimates put the length of the tunnels at over 50 kilometers.

Hamas has also dug foxholes throughout the Strip to accommodate anti-tank missile units, and prepared massive bombs, which have been placed on the main access roads into Gaza.

In addition to its homemade Kassam rockets, Hamas has smuggled into Gaza a number of anti-aircraft cannons and several shoulder-to-air missiles. It also a large number of anti-tank missiles that, if used correctly, could wreak havoc on Israeli armor in the event of a ground operation involving tanks and armored personnel carriers.

It also has Special Forces - commando forces and units with expertise in rocket fire, mortar attacks and roadside bombs.

"Hamas has learned a lot from Hizbullah and has adopted many of the Lebanese group's tactics which were used successfully against the IDF in the Second Lebanon War," one IDF official said.

Since Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, Hamas has created a military with a clear hierarchy, led by Hamas "chief" Ahmed Ja'abri.

Ja'abri is in his late 40s and has been in Israel's sights for a number of years. In 2004, Israel Air Force jets fired several missiles at Ja'abri's home in the Sajiya neighborhood of Gaza City. Ja'abri escaped the assassination attempt with moderate wounds. Five others were killed.

Since then, he has slowly climbed the Hamas ranks and today is believed to be the terror group's so-called "chief of staff," replacing arch-terrorist Muhammad Deif, who was seriously wounded in an Israeli air strike in July 2006.

Hamas has split the Gaza Strip into five sections corresponding to five different brigades in the north, center, Gaza City, and two brigades in the south. Each brigade has a commander as well as several battalions under its command.

Ja'abri is commander of Gaza City. Ahmed Andour is in charge in the north. Iman Nufal, commander of central Gaza, is in Egyptian custody after he was arrested last year entering the Sinai Peninsula. There are also two brigades in the south - one in Khan Yunis and one in Rafah. The commanders there are Mahmoud Sanour and Ra'ad Alatour, respectively.

Andour is believed to be Ja'abri's right-hand man and the two were behind the attacks against Fatah militiamen in the summer of 2007 that led to Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip. Ja'abri and Andour are also believed to have masterminded the June 2006 kidnapping of Gilad Schalit.

IDF sources said Saturday that it was likely that several senior Hamas operatives and commanders were killed in Saturday's air strike.

[Cougar]

A full scale invasion of Gaza would be a nightmare for any army, even the IDF. And our soft-hearted ROE would not help either. However, a full scale invasion is not necessarily needed to win in Gaza. We will see what is going to happen in the coming days.

[brainstorm]

Well, Israel should not have withdrawn from Gaza in the first place. I think this is a wrong move. What does it amount to? Israel did not achieve any of its military or political objectives by withdrawing from Gaza.

[Paparock]

Hamas calls 'reservists' to foil attack

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Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, on Monday announced that it was recruiting an additional 1,000 militiamen ahead of a possible IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

The group said that thousands of volunteers from the Gaza Strip had also asked to be recruited to the movement in the past 48 hours so that they could fight against IDF soldiers.

On the contrary, the police chiefs decided to go ahead with plans to hold a graduation ceremony for the cadets on Saturday because they did not believe that they would be targeted by Israel.

According to the sources, these policemen were not members of Izaddin Kassam. As such, they were never asked to participate in armed attacks on Israel. Nor had they been asked to prepare for the possibility of having to fight against the IDF when and if it invades the Gaza Strip.

"Almost all the policemen who were killed in the past three days were responsible for imposing law and order in the Gaza Strip," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. "Many of them were not even Hamas members."

Another Hamas operative said that Izaddin Kassam, which functions as the official Hamas "army," has over 15,000 men throughout the Gaza Strip who are better trained and equipped to fight against the IDF.

This is the same paramilitary force that defeated tens of thousands of US-backed Fatah policemen and security officers in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Ever since taking full control of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas militia have been busy training its men for the possibility of an IDF invasion or a revolt by Fatah loyalists.

The preparations included the construction of a vast network of underground tunnels and bunkers in various parts of the Gaza Strip, as well as the smuggling of tons of explosives and missiles across the border with Egypt.

A former Palestinian Authority security official estimated that Izaddin Kassam has over 20,000 rockets and mortars, as well as tens of thousands of tons of explosives.

The official said that according to reports emanating from the Gaza Strip, most of the group's commanders have survived the IDF offensive.

"Israel has managed to kill only a small number of Izaddin Kassam members," said a Palestinian journalist in Gaza City. "The Kassam doesn't have offices and public security bases. This is a clandestine organization entrusted with carrying out special missions."

The Hamas militiamen have now been entrusted with the task of repelling an IDF ground attack. Spokesmen for the group said on Monday that their men are determined to fight to the end.

"We have many surprises for Israel," said one of the spokesmen. "We are just waiting for the ground attack to teach them an unforgettable lesson."


The announcement came as sources close to Hamas said that the movement's armed wing had hardly been affected by the IDF operation that began on Saturday.

The sources told The Jerusalem Post that many of the casualties in the first two days of the operation were "ordinary" policemen who had been recently recruited to various branches of the security forces.

"These policemen were being enlisted to direct the traffic and fight crime," the sources said. "These are not the militiamen who are responsible for the rocket attacks on Israel."

This explains why Hamas did not rush to evacuate the headquarters of the "civilian" police force in Gaza City before the IDF offensive.

[Paparock]

'Hamas chief of staff may be dead'

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Conflicting reports emerged Sunday regarding the fate of top Hamas military commander Ahmed Ja'abri, who may have been killed in one of the hundreds of Israeli air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Since Operation Cast Lead began on Saturday, the air force has flown over 300 sorties over the Strip, bombing close to 280 different targets. Palestinian and Israeli sources said that Ja'abri, the overall commander of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, may have been killed in an air strike on a mosque which he frequented.

Sources close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip said they could neither confirm nor deny the report. They said that the bodies of many of the victims had yet to be identified and that several bodies were still under the rubbles of demolished buildings.

Defense officials said that at least 50 percent of Hamas's underground rocket launchers had been bombed during the air campaign, as well as a significant number of weapons warehouses. In addition, almost all of the Hamas bases and headquarters in the Gaza Strip were completely destroyed.

On Sunday, IAF aircraft bombed a top Hamas security installation, a mosque, a TV station and dozens of other targets.

But despite the bombings and the relatively low number of Kassam rockets fired into Israel throughout the day - some 30 in comparison to the earlier predictions of over 100 - senior officials said that Hamas was still capable of firing barrages of rockets into Israel.

"Hamas's operational capabilities were damaged, but the group still has underground launchers as well as the capability to launch attacks along the security fence and into Israel," said one official.

Officials said that Hamas was believed to still have thousands of Kassam rockets as well as a significant number of Grad-model Katyushas. Top officers would not rule out the possibility that Hamas may also have rockets with ranges greater that 40 kilometers. Hamas is also believed to have advanced anti-tank missiles as well as a number of shoulder-to-air missiles capable of downing Israeli aircraft.

The majority of the Palestinians killed in the IDF air raids that began Saturday were policemen and militiamen belonging to Izaddin Kassam, human rights activists and medical sources said Sunday.

They revealed that about 160 blue-uniformed policemen were killed in the first day of the operation. Most of the cadets were attending a graduation ceremony at the main police headquarters in Gaza City on Saturday. The IDF said that in total, over 280 Palestinians were killed, most of them Hamas operatives.

Among the victims: Tawkif Jaber, the director-general of the Hamas-run "civil" police force in the Gaza Strip, and Ismail Ja'bari, commander of one of Hamas's most-feared security forces. The two are the most senior Hamas officials who are known to have been killed since the beginning of the IDF operation.

A human rights activist estimated that so far at least 60 civilians had been killed, including nine children under the age of 14 and 20 women. Another human rights activist said he knew about "fewer than 45" civilian casualties.

By Sunday night, the Palestinians reported that about 300 people had been killed and 1000 wounded since the beginning of the operation.

Palestinian journalists in Gaza City said they were facing many difficulties in collecting information about the casualties because of restrictions imposed by Hamas and because many of the victims' relatives had buried the bodies quickly.

[meringue87]

Hi after few days of striking into the hearts and minds of the people supporting hamas!!!i am really worried for the IDF ground troops. Reason its a Hamas controlled area and fighting in urban areas proves really difficult, looking at past and present the US troops in Iraq are facing lots of difficulties with IEDs and stuff all are done by ppl who look like civilian. I am really not sure about the last lebannon war on how the Israeli maximise there ground troops can anyone enlightened me on this!!! Thnx!!!

[expat]

Hi members of forum -

I am the new kid on the block.
Just joined up and hope to chat with you guys soon.
I am South African and an ex-SADF soldier..
Have been working in Iraq for some time as a Security operator.


Stay safe

[Paparock]

Originally Posted by expat

Hi members of forum -

I am the new kid on the block.
Just joined up and hope to chat with you guys soon.
I am South African and an ex-SADF soldier..
Have been working in Iraq for some time as a Security operator.


Stay safe

Welcome to the forum expat.

[genteel man]

Hamas threatens Israeli army that if the army tried to attack the Gaza Strip by land, it will undoubtedly be the end and also threatened that the children will collect the remains of the sector Israel soldiers in the event of an attack on the Gaza road .. Israel is now in poor condition, as long as Hamas fires rockets at Beersheba appears it will be the end of Israel

[SpacemanSpiff]

Originally Posted by genteel man

Hamas threatens Israeli army that if the army tried to attack the Gaza Strip by land, it will undoubtedly be the end and also threatened that the children will collect the remains of the sector Israel soldiers in the event of an attack on the Gaza road .. Israel is now in poor condition, as long as Hamas fires rockets at Beersheba appears it will be the end of Israel

OK, whatever.

Which reminds me, I saw a funny photo posted at Little Green Footballs (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/) where Charlie Johnson is a true friend of Israel:



I really wish the Islamic world would learn proper spelling and grammer.

[Paparock]

Originally Posted by genteel man

Hamas threatens Israeli army that if the army tried to attack the Gaza Strip by land, it will undoubtedly be the end and also threatened that the children will collect the remains of the sector Israel soldiers in the event of an attack on the Gaza road .. Israel is now in poor condition, as long as Hamas fires rockets at Beersheba appears it will be the end of Israel

Only in their demented little minds’ dreams as so many of their demented little leaders rears have been blown to Allah.

I hope Israel does not have to go in on the ground however if they do I hope anf pray for the safety of Israeli soldiers and the total destrustion of Hamas.

I hope Israel does not have to go in on the ground however if they do I hope and pray for the safety of Israeli soldiers and the total destruction of Hamas. Let not Israel turn to the left or to the right until Hamas as a functional organization in Gaza be on the scrapheap of history laying smoldering ruin!!!