Richard Melson
October 2004
Israel Death Squads: Sequel
Israel is now a machine for the suppression and oppression of Palestinians. Sharon and the Likud would love to "recruit" and seduce America—crossing the "bridge of crimes" together—to extend this terror to the entire Arab and Muslim worlds. The idea is that if one can somehow interlink the oppression of Muslims in Gujarat with that of the Palestinians in the territories, one could "release" a "clash of civilizations" with America doing most of the work and Israel and the neo-cons as a kind of "policy-colonist."
This attempt at a "Gujaratization-and-Palestinization" of the whole world is part of a neo-con "counterglobalization" or alternate globalization which is of course a successor to Nazism.
Some of the "units" mentioned here at the beginning are repeated at the end for ease of reference.
Acronyms Guide
list of acronyms and terms.
A
AGM - Air Ground Missile
AO - Area of Operation
ATGM - Anti Tank Guided Missile
APC - Armored Personal Carrier
ATV - All Terrain Vehicles
B
BDU – Battle Dress Uniforms
C
CAR15 - the carbine version of the M16A1
CO - Commanding Officer
CQB - Close Quarters Battle
CT - Counter Terror
CSAR - Combat Search And Rescue
E
EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal
FFP - Final Firing Position (usually refers to snipers work)
F
FMS - Foreign Military Support
G
GPMG - General Purpose Machine Gun (usually refers to the FN MAG 58)
GPS - Global Positioning System
H
HEAT - High Explosive Anti Tank (usually refers to anti tanks missiles)
I
IAI - Israeli Aircraft Industries
IAF - Israeli Air Force.
IDF - Israeli Defense Force
IMI - Israeli Military Industries
IP - Israeli National Police
IPS - Israeli Prison Service
ITL - International Technologies Lasers
IR - Infra Red
K
KAC - Knight Armament Company
L
LBH - Load Bearing Harness (e.g. Ephod).
LBV - Load Bearing Vest
LIC - Low Intensity Conflict
LMG - Light Machine Gun
LRRP - Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol
LOTAR - the Israeli acronym for Counter Terror ("Lohama Baterror" in Hebrew).
LE - Law Enforcement
M
M4 - the carbine version of the M16A2
MAGAV - Israeli Border Guard
Maslul - the IDF entire training regime
MATKAL - General Staff (the IDF High Command)
Mekut'zar - the Israeli term for all M16 carbine versions including the M4 and the CAR15
Mekut'zrar - the Israeli term for all extreme short barrel M16 carbine versions including the Colt Commando and the IDF home made sawn-off CAR15
Mossad - Israel foreign intelligence gathering organization
N
NBC - Nuclear Biological Chemical
NCO - Non Commissioned Officer
NVD - Night Vision Device
NVG - Night Vision Goggles
P
PDW - Personal Defense Weapon
R
RIS - Rail Interface System
RAS - Rail Adapter System
S
SAR - Search And Rescue
SAM - Surface Air Missile
SF - Special Forces
SHABACH - Israeli General Security Service
SHABAS - Israeli Prison Service
SMG - Sub Machine Gun
SWAT - Special Weapons And Tactics
SWS - Sniper Weapons System
T
TCI - Technical Consulting International
T&E - Testing & Evaluation
U
UAV - Unmanaged Aerial Vehicles
X
XO - Executive Officer (second in command)
Special Missions Units
Undercover Counter Terror unit for the Territories.
Special Forces canine Unit.
Extreme weather unit.
Military Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).
Sayeret Egoz (Unit 621) (see more details in subsequent discussion below)
Counter Guerrilla unit.
Counter Terror and hostage rescue outfit, located in the city of Eilat.
Sayeret MATKAL (Unit 767)
The IDF primary intelligence gathering and SF unit.
Sayeret Maglan (Unit 212)
Long range missiles warfare unit.
Provides Computer Aided Design assistance in Counter Terror and hostage rescue scenarios.
Combat Engineering Corps Special Forces
The IDF Combat Engineering Corps has two SF units - Sayeret Yael and Unit YACHSAP, which are joined together under the Special Operations Engineering Unit 5326 ("Yechida Handasit Lemivt'zaim Meuhadim - YAHALOM", in Hebrew).
The IDF elite demolition unit.
The IDF Bomb Disposal Unit
Israeli Police Special Forces Guide
Unit Gideonim (Unit 33)
Counter Terror intelligence oriented undercover unit.
SAYERET EGOZ
Sayeret Egoz (Unit 621) is the IDF SF Counter Guerrilla unit, designed to operate in the Lebanon front.
Table Of Contents:
History
The IDF was involved in Lebanon since the late 1960's, and thus Sayeret Egoz has a long and complex history, involving deployment in Israel's north borders with Syria and Lebanon.
The unit was first formed as a SF unit belonging to the IDF North Command during the 1956 Israeli-Arab Sinai campaign. Few months later, after a fatal friendly fire incident, it was disbanded.
The unit was again formed in 1963 due to a bitter Israeli-Syrian dispute over water sources. The unit was then assigned to patrol along the Israeli main water pipeline and secure it. Three years later in 1965, the tension in the border calmed down, and since there was no longer a need for a SF unit to protect the water pipeline, a regular Border Guard company was formed for this role and Sayeret Egoz was again disbanded.
In 1968, several terror attacks originating from the Israeli-Lebanese border were conducted against Israeli citizens. The Israeli SF units retaliated in return, and Sayeret Egoz was again formed to take over this kind of operations. However, other more veteran SF units, like Sayeret Golany and Sayeret T'zanhanim, were chosen for the retaliation raids over Sayeret Egoz and the unit was disbanded two years later in 1970.
In 1982, following numerous terrorists insertions from the Israeli-Lebanese border, the IDF launched Operation Peace of the Galilee - a full-scale invasion to Lebanon aimed at killing as many terrorists as possible
Three years later, in 1985, most of IDF forces retreated, and the IDF formed the South Lebanese "Security Zone", which was made of a long series of IDF controlled military posts, creating a few kilometers width terrorists' killing zone.
In the first years, the situation was quite convenient. The guerrilla terrorists in the region had low fighting skills and the IDF prevailed almost all encounters. However, in the 1990's the situation rapidly escalated into a brutal (LIC, with the IDF taking casualties and injuries on a daily basis. Moreover, over years and years of constant combat, the guerrillas gained a considerable advantage against the IDF regular troops, who were mainly trained for high-intensity warfare and had spent only limited periods of time in Lebanon. So the IDF successes became to be of sporadic nature.
Even the IDF SF units, who had receive enhanced training in counter guerilla tactics, were having difficulties engaging the guerrillas, who fought for sustained periods in the same territory and had an intimate familiarity with the region in which they both fought and lived. Thus, the creation of a specialized counter guerrilla unit became inevitable and Sayeret Egoz was formed in 1995.
When formed the unit was attached to the Golany infantry brigade, which is the IDF northern oriented infantry brigade. A year later, in December 1996, the unit was first exposed to the public.
Like all other special units that are part of the Golany brigade, including Sayeret Golany, Sayeret Egoz is located in the Shraga army base, north of Israel.
The belonging to the Golany infantry brigade is one of great importance as it allows the unit to largely gains from Sayeret Golany vast experience and expertise in the Lebanon area.
Due to its importance and unique specialty, an attack team from the IDF SF canine unit - Oket'z - is exclusively attached to the units. These Unit Oket'z operators sleep at the Sayeret Egoz base, accompany Sayeret Egoz teams in their missions and joint train with them frequently. The attack canine team even join Sayeret Egoz personnel in their last three months train so they will be full aware with the unit's tactics.
As a unit belonging to the Golany infantry brigade, Sayeret Egoz was due to wear the Golany brigade shoulder badge. However, when the unit was formed, Sayeret Egoz designed its own badge which eventually wasn't used. Seen above is the unit attempt to design a unique shoulder badge.
Manpower
Although the unit was attached to Golany infantry brigade, like many other modern SF units when formed in 1995 Sayeret Egoz was built around an entire team from an exiting SF unit and from dropouts from other elite SF units. In Sayeret Egoz case, the unit was formed from an entire team from Sayeret T'zanhanim, and from Shayetet 13 and Sayeret MATKAL dropouts. This unique way of constructing a unit allows the new unit to reach an operational level in very short time, since all personnel are already highly trained SF operators and just need some additional specialized training.
Today the units personnel derive from within the Golany brigade, however the unit still receive large number of dropouts from other more elite SF units, primarily from Shayetet 13.
Moreover, in order to further boost up the unit's tactical ability, the unit's high-ranking officers often arrive from other elite units like Shayetet 13 and Sayeret MATKAL.
From 2002, however, a big change in due in Sayeret Egoz manpower recruitment - all personnel will not come from the inner-brigade Gibush but rather from personnel who have finished and not passed one of the IDF elite units Gibush - Shayetet 13, Sayeret Shaldag and Sayeret MATKAL, all held before the solider actual recruitment to the IDF.
Training
Following the IDF withdrawal from South Lebanon in may 2000, and the unit involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the Territories, the unit has much extended and modified it's training regime from 14 to 16 months.
The actual chronological order of Sayeret Egoz training regime differs from team and team but in general is consisted of:
Weapons
The standard IDF SF units issue weapon is the CAR15. Most of Sayeret Egoz CAR15 are equipped with new 1:7 twist heavy barrel, which enables them to fire the SS109/M855 ammunition.
Together with Sayeret Golany, the two units are the only units, which use the Soviet made LMG - the RPD and the PK on a daily basis.
Future
In May 2000, the IDF withdrew from Lebanon, so the reason for Sayeret Egoz creation is no longer valid. As such, the unit's future is somewhat uncertain. At the moment the unit's status remain the same as the IDF waits for the situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border to stabilize before making any long-term decisions regarding the unit's future. There are basically two future possibilities:
Currently, the unit is extensively involved in LIC in the Territories and is considered a very successful CT unit conducting many ambushes for Palestinian terrorists. Today, the unit is one of most active units in the area, conducting at least one CT raid per week.
While it was originally formed for Counter Guerilla Warfare in South Lebanon, after the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 the unit had undergone few organizational changes. The major one, deriving from the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes, is a new specialty - Counter Terror Warfare in the Territories. However, the unit still trains on Counter Guerilla tactics.
Another change is that since 2003 the unit’s reserve operators will be assigned to Mount Hermon, backing up Unit Alpinsitim with an additional SF capable force, instead of being dispersed among various reserve units
Israeli Special Forces Overview
The IDF and its SF are very different in almost every aspect from any other western counterparts.
Due to the severity of the Israeli security situation over the years, all men and woman over 18 years old are obligated to serve a mandatory service in one of the Israeli security organizations. Man have to serve three years, while woman serve 18-21 month although the woman mandatory service is much more loosely enforced.
Naturally, most of the draftees will serve in the IDF, others will serve in the Israeli Police (mainly woman), the Israeli Border Guard (MAGAV), and even in clerical positions in the Israeli General Security Service (SHABACH), and in Israeli foreign intelligence gathering service - the renowned Mossad.
The selection for the IDF SF units is done at a very early stage. In most units it's conducted prior to the to the actual recruitment to the IDF, when the future soldiers are still teenagers in high school. In the rest of the units it's done during the basic infantry training stage.
Hence, unlike most SF units worldwide, there is no need whatsoever to possess a prior military service in a conventional military unit in order to get into an IDF SF unit. Moreover, if one does not succeed in enrolling to one of the SF units before he begins his IDF service or during his first months of IDF service, he will probably never do. Therefore, a soldier can be an operator in a SF unit from his day one in the IDF and throughout his three years service up until the very day his service ends.
Moreover, while in most armies one move up the units, hence start his service in a regular unit or in a low level SF unit, and then move up to a more elite unit, in the IDF it’s exactly the other way around. Soldiers are assigned right from the start to the highest unit they could have achieved, and if the fail they will drop out to a lower status SF unit or even to a conventional infantry unit. There are few rare cases to the other direction, mainly involving outstanding officers that had moved up from regular infantry units to a commanding position in the SF unit.
In order to be accepted into most of the IDF SF units, one must first pass a selection phase, which is known as "Gibush". The Gibush lasts 3-5 days and focuses on physical stamina and the candidates' behavior under sleep depravation, fatigue, intense mental and physical pressure. There are also written exams and an interview with a psychologist, which usually take place at the end of the Gibush.
Few hundreds man start the Gibush for each such unit. Out of all them only 50-100 will see the Gibush through and the best 20-25 will be selected for the unit. In due time the selected personnel will join to the IDF together and form a one integral team.
Once the soldiers join the IDF they began a training regime (known as "Maslul") that in most IDF SF units lasts 20 months. Only on the conclusion of the entire Maslul are the soldiers qualified as warriors, receive their unit’s insignia and may engage in combat.
Unlike most foreign SF units, after the end of the Maslul the soldiers are not reassigned to other already operational teams in order to fill gaps, but rather will remain in the same one integral team from their recruitment date throughout their IDF service and until the end of service (which is usually at the same time as the end of the mandatory service).
Since all the soldiers in the team join the IDF at the same time, the IDF SF teams have a unique naming system. This system isn’t based on sequential letters or numbers like in other SF units around the world, but instead each team is referred by the team’s members drafting month and year. For example, "Sayeret Maglan August 99 team", refers to a team in Sayeret Maglan that was drafted in August 1999 and will finish its IDF service in august 2002, three years later. For a shorter call sign within the unit the teams are simply known by each team CO first name, i.e. "Daniel Team".
All personnel in the team have a homogeneous military background. They are all in about the same age (18-21), and have the exact same military background, part for dropouts from other units that didn’t join the particular unit at the very beginning but rather at a later stage.
Since the IDF service is mandatory, during the first three years all soldiers including officers receive a symbolic fee of around 200$. Once the mandatory service ends if a soldier continue to serve, he will receive a more normal wage of around 2000$ in the first couple years. Due to this financial difference and the IDF low budget even SF troops rarely served more then the all IDF three years mandatory service.
This create a very non-efficient situation - since most IDF SF soldiers receive 20 months training they end up with just a little over a year to actually serve as combat soldiers. So, in some of the more elite units that enjoy more generous budgets, like Sayeret MATKAL, Shayetet 13 and the IAF SF units, the volunteers must sign an additional 1-2 years service period. However, in most units this additional signing period isn’t being enforced, and most soldiers serve only a fraction of it, if any. The only ones that serve for a long time after mandatory service are officers, hence there is no such thing as a 30 year old career NCO combatant in the IDF.
The situation in the Israeli civilian SF units is somewhat different and more resembles that of foreign units. In order to be accepted into most civilian SF units, one must first concludes his three years IDF service in a combat position. Further more, in order to apply one must have served in infantry or SF unit, or as a NCO in the Armor or in the Artillery corps. The future candidate must also pass a Gibush.
Since the operators are of heterorganic nature, with different serving time, on the conclusion of training the operators are divided among already operational teams according to need, and are allowed to stay on combat status until the age of 40, pending that the operator successfully passes the physical and tactical tests conducted several times a year.
Problems
The lack of one unified command for the IDF numerous SF units is the single most severe problem regarding the IDF SF, and one that is costing time, money and eventually lives for more then 50 years since the IDF was formed. The IDF simply has too many SF units, many of which have parallel or overlapping responsibilities with other units.
Without one outfit that supervises, coordinates and organizes these units, each IDF SF unit has its own training, weapons and gear arsenals and different command style. Moreover, the IDF SF units often receive too generous budgets at the expenses of the conventional infantry that does most of the actual daily combat deployment along Israel's hostile borders.
This is especially severe since the IDF is a large army - larger than the British, French or German armies.
Each of the IDF regular (non reserve) armor brigades has its own SF LRRP unit
The three units’ missions and training are similar, but they are completely separated outfits, in both training and deployment.
The units will mobilize by vehicles and occasionally by foot ahead of the main armored force and have several important roles:
The need for the units was well proven in the Israeli-Arab Six Day War in 1967 and in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In the bitter tank-to-tank engagements that took place in those wars, PALSAR 7 sustained heavy casualties but fulfilled its objectives remarkably well.
The units are classic LRRP units and most of their training regime is dedicated to this specialty. Accordingly, they don't possess strong CT capabilities like many IDF SF units. However, due to the current clashes in the Territories, the units place more focus on CQB then before.
The entire training period lasts 20 months, consisting of the following phases:
Unit 5101, Unit 669 and Unit 5707 are considered Air Force level units and are joined
together under the Special Air Forces Command (KAHAM). Unit YANMAM, however, is
considered as AA corps level units, and is therefore not under KAHAM.
Both Unit 669 and Unit 5101 are considered to be elite units. Unit 5101 is even considered
to be the three best units in the IDF together with Sayeret MATKAL and Shayetet 13.
Note that while the others branches of the IDF gave their SF units non-meaningful names such as "Sayeret Xyz", the IAF, doing things differently as usual, gave its four top units names that reflects the units' purpose.
Infantry Corps Special Forces
Overview
Table Of Contents:
Introduction
Apart from Sayeret MATKAL and Shayetet 13, the IDF infantry Sayerets are the most famous Israeli SF units, and represent the classic model of an IDF SF unit - a hard core LRRP unit with advanced CT and hostage rescue capabilities.
The IDF have four regular infantry brigades that form the IDF Infantry Corps, each with its own distinctive head gear color.
The four brigades are in theory identical and share the exact same inner organization. Each infantry brigade is made of three conventional infantry battalions and four special brigade level units:
Out of the above four brigade level units, the only one which is considered as a SF unit is the PALSAR. The other three companies are high quality specialized infantry units, with better manpower and gear then the conventional battalions, but they are not SF. Accordingly, the IDF four infantry Sayerets are:
As their name suggest, the infantry Sayerets wartime mission is path finders, moving ahead of the brigade, conducting intelligence gathering and reporting back to the brigade' headquarters. The infantry Sayerets will also act as elite assault teams and will take out tactically important enemy posts, which are too well protected for the conventional battalions.
Part from the four Sayerets, which are an integral part of the infantry units, the Golany brigade has a fifth unit - Sayeret Egoz, and the T'zanhanim brigade has Sayeret Maglan and Unit YANMAM. However, there is a big difference between these three units - Sayeret Egoz is an integral part of the Golany brigade just like the other four special brigade level units. However, Sayeret Maglan and Sayeret YANMAM personnel are only attached to the T'zanhanim brigade in their first six months training. Once finished, these operators are reassigned to Sayeret Maglan and to Sayeret YANMAM, which are completely independent units. Sayeret Maglan and Sayeret YANMAM are also located in different bases then the other T'zanhanim brigade units.
In the past, the brigades also had different orientations. The T'zanhanim brigade specialized in airborne operations using helicopters and parachuting, the Golany brigade specialized in deploying the Achzarit APC and the Givaty brigade specialized in maritime operations, akin to the U.S. Marine Corps. Today, all units train with helicopters, the Givaty brigade no longer train on amphibious operations and the brigades are much closer to each other.
Among the four infantry Sayerets, Sayeret Golany is considered to be the best by far. Enjoying a very generous budget, most of it deriving from civilian donations and contributions, having a strong focus on CT, and the second most rigorous training regime after Shayetet 13, Sayeret Golany had carved itself a name of a truly elite unit.
From the mid 1990's, Sayeret NAHAL had taken a big leap forward and today is considered as equal to Sayeret T'zanhanim.
Manpower
Officially, the IDF infantry brigades are not voluntary units, which means that theoretically one can be assigned to the brigades against his will. However, due to the increasing demand for a position the infantry brigades in the last years, for most soldiers serving there it was a first choice.
There is one exception to that rule. As a historic relic from the time it was a small SF unit, the T'zanhanim brigade has a two days Selection Series (Gibush). Keeping the Gibush is actually a quite prudent move, which insures that the T'zanhanim brigade has the best manpower out of the four brigades.
However, all brigade level units, including the Sayeret, are volunteering units. A three-day Gibush is held at the beginning of each of the brigades' basic training phase. The infantry brigades Gibush is considered one of the hardest ones in the IDF. The best ones who passed the Gibush are selected for the Sayeret. The rest of soldiers, who successfully passed the Gibush, are spread around the other three special brigade lever units.
The Golany inner-brigade Gibush also screens for Sayeret Egoz and the T'zanhanim inner-brigade Gibush also screens for Sayeret Maglan and Unit YANMAM. As such in the Golany case, the PALSAR has the first choice of soldiers, follow by Sayeret Egoz and the other three brigade level units. In the T'zanhanim case, Sayeret Maglan choose first, then the PALSAR and Unit YANMAM and then the other three brigade level units.
Training
All of the infantry Sayerets have about the same training regime which last 20 months. Only after finishing the training regime the soldiers received their unit's insignia and shifted to combat status.
The training consists of:
Future
In the late 1990's the IDF realized that its Infantry Corps hadn't evolve much since the creation of the IDF, and conduct some long due changes in the infantry corps. Part of these changes was also a decision to merge all four special brigade level units, which today are almost independents units, into one special battalion, akin to the U.S. Marines Corps Recon Battalions.
Another decision was to assign a fixed AO instead of the past rotation.
The future enrollment is:
Note that these assignments reflect the IDF opinion on each of the brigades - trying to balance the deployment and placing a high quality brigade with lesser quality one.
The decisions on the infantry brigade combat deployment was postponed due to the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes.
Special Missions Units
Undercover Counter Terror unit for the Territories.
Special Forces canine Unit.
Extreme weather unit.
Military Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).
Counter Guerrilla unit.
Counter Terror and hostage rescue outfit, located in the city of Eilat.
Sayeret MATKAL (Unit 767)
The IDF primary intelligence gathering and SF unit.
Sayeret Maglan (Unit 212)
Long range missiles warfare unit.
Provides Computer Aided Design assistance in Counter Terror and hostage rescue scenarios.
Field Intelligence Corps Special Forces
Overview
While the IDF long range strategically intelligence gathering capabilities were always excellent, its tactical Visual intelligence (VISINET) gathering capabilities were lacking in the past, with most of it done by reserve units who were under trained and under equipped.
In order to correct the situation, in 2000 the IDF formed a dedicated Field Intelligence Corps, which is the youngest corps among the IDF five Land Corps (the other four are: Infantry, Artillery, Armor, and Combat Engineering).
When formed, the Field Intelligence Corps integrated several units which were previously under various IDF commands. These units gained tremendously from the new corps formation, as they now have more structured organization, training and deployment.
As the youngest corps among the IDF Field Corps, the Field Intelligence Corps had undergone frequent changes since its formation, reflecting the changes in the IDF – the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, the clashes in the Territories and the budgetary restrains.
Today, the Field Intelligence Corps is made of the following main units:
The units are similar in both their wartime objectives and training and differ from each other mainly in their designated AO.
Part from the conventional companies, in which most of the units’ operators serve, the units also consists of special mobile teams made of veteran soldiers who had proven their capabilities. The units’ mobile teams are SF capable outfits with higher fighting skills. The mobile teams are tasked with the units’ most demanding deep insertion missions or with accompany other SF units in operations which require long range VISINET gathering and surveillance.
Deployment
Small teams, made of the units' personnel, can be found in various observation posts along the Israeli borders. As the soldiers spend most of their service in same front they become intimately familiar their AO, and thus able to provide valuable intelligence insights.
During peacetime the units assist in:
During wartime, the units will gather intelligence and target artillery's fire. Due to their wartime mission, the units are also referred to as the Target Intelligence Units ("Yechidot Modiyin Matara - YACHMAM", in Hebrew).
Training
The units’ training regime lasts 12 months, consisting of the following phases:
Combat Engineering Corps Special Forces
The IDF Combat Engineering Corps has two SF units - Sayeret Yael and Unit YACHSAP, which are joined together under the Special Operations Engineering Unit 5326 ("Yechida Handasit Lemivt'zaim Meuhadim - YAHALOM", in Hebrew).
The IDF elite demolition unit.
The IDF Bomb Disposal Unit
Israeli Police Special Forces Guide
Unit Gideonim (Unit 33)
Counter Terror intelligence oriented undercover unit.
Public transportation Counter Terror units.
Counter smuggling unit for the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israeli Prison Service (SHABAS)
Correctional facilities Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) unit.
Intelligence oriented anti drugs unit.
Israeli Border Guard (MAGAV)
Counter Terror and Hostage Rescue unit.
Counter Terror undercover unit.
Tactical Counter Crime and Counter Terror rapid deployment unit.
Intelligence gathering and infiltrations interception unit.