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| Israel-Palestine | |
| Hamas Plots Knockout Blow with 800 Suicide Bombers | |
| 2004-03-28 | |
No sooner had the tens of thousands of mourners dispersed after the ceremonies and demonstrations of strength marking the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last Tuesday, March 22, in an Israeli missile attack, when a thousand Hamas top and middle-ranking activists dived underground. This is reported by DEBKAfileâs counter-terror sources. Since then, known Hamas operatives have maintained perfect telephone silence, their relatives are in the dark about their whereabouts and contacts are maintained only through trusted couriers. This situation presented the Hamas command center in Damascus with the problem of communicating urgent instructions to the men on the ground in the Gaza Strip â urgent for two reasons: 1. Although Adel Aziz Rantisi made a show of bending the knee to Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas Damascus command center, Mashaal knows he must assert his authority without delay and set the pace of coming in events in the Gaza Strip before the local leadership grabs the initiative. 2. Hamas, Hizballah and al Qaeda agents maintain day-to-day exchanges based on a delicately balanced intelligence and logistical give and take. Mashaal and company will not allow anyone in the Hamas Gaza command to upset the balance of this relationship. A way therefore had to be found for Hamas, Damascus, to impose its will on Hamas, Gaza. The method finally hit on was to take to the airwaves. Friday, March 26, therefore, the Hamas liaison man in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, who managed the Mishaal-Rantisi compromise, was interviewed on Hizballah Radio Nur. On the assumption that the Gaza contingent in hiding were listening in case of coded messages, Hamdan addressed the Hamas âmilitaryâ wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qasseem Brigades, directly â not in code but in plain language. DEBKAfile monitored his statement, as follows: âThe lone suicide martyr method has scored great achievements, but now, as we stand at the threshold of a decisive stage, we must resort to a tactic that brings us the desired results. Ideally, we would round up 70,000 to 80,000 martyrs and have them blow themselves up simultaneously in the enemyâs urban centers and so finally vanquish him. But that is not realistic. One tenth or even one hundredth part of that number should suffice to inflict a shock on a strategic scale. I therefore tell you not to hurry to exact revenge. We have to be sure our assault is concerted and perfectly orchestrated. Donât waste resources and manpower on small operations. No one is pushing you. Take all the time you need and then pick a date and hour that are most advantageous to our project.â Hamdanâs words freely translated are a directive from Damascus HQ to Muhammed Deif, commander of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, to muster an army of several hundred suicide killers to reach the hubs of Israeli cities and blow themselves up at the same moment. The Damascus Hamas command reckons that, even if not all the massacres come off, Israel will not be able to withstand a shock and casualties of the magnitude projected This escalation fits in well with the intelligence gathered by Americans and Israelis on the spreading base of anti-Israeli terror from the double suicide attack carried out in Ashdod shortly before the assassination of Sheikh Yassin which caused the deaths of 10 Israeli port workers. Their experts conclude the attack was the work of Hizballah aided and abetted by al Qaeda. A senior US intelligence official is quoted as saying: âThe soldiers were members of Hamas. But the overall planning, the way the shipâs container was prepared, the weapons used and the level of advance intelligence invested in the attack all bear the marks of the two Islamic terrorist groups. We can expect many more combined terrorist assaults of this kind in the future.â | |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #15 Two words come to mind... "work accidents". |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-03-28 6:40:32 PM |
| #14 Typical Hamas-pussy rhetoric...call on 15 or 11 year old boys to commit homicide. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2004-03-28 6:08:10 PM |
| #13 This is Hamas propaganda. But if they do a poor man's Cecil B DeMille boomer production, they will have lost the restraint of Israel and any country may have left in limiting collateral damage in precision strikes on Hamas leadership. They do not realize that they will be squashed like bugs. It is only the humanity of Israelis that keeps them alive now. Bloody morons. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-03-28 12:14:52 PM |
| #12 Al Qaeda has been knocked back on its heels over the passed several years. The Madrid bombing was spectacular but not as spectacular as it could have been prior to 911. It is altogether possible that Hamas may well start sending some of their folks to Eurostan, and could well send 800 of them, but I would think mounting a bombing campaign of any size or corrdination is going to get tougher and tougher, epscially since 311; even in Europe. I think that Al Qaeda is running out of tricks, resources, and willing volunteers and they are going to increasingly start shitting in their own pool as they have in Iraq, Turkey and Spain. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-03-28 12:01:51 PM |
| #11 My point was not to suggest specific city targets. I agree with the comments that Hamas alone does not have sufficient resources to field 8 or 80 bombers much less 800 at this time. But in coordination with other Al Qaida cells, they could stage a worldwide bombfest at specific targets in America, Europe and Asia to push public opinion with a message: punish Israel and Bush and we'll go away. Message worked in Spain already. (For that very reason they would avoid Spain.) We do have a 6-11 coming up.... |
| Posted by: john 2004-03-28 11:12:24 AM |
| #10 Frank G. I'll bet it's Barcelona..... It would reenforce the A/Q hold over the Socialist Gov. The Stockholm effect needs more than one demonstration of it's power over the victim to be efficient. After the attack beseech the Spanish gov. to break off contact with Israel. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-03-28 10:01:22 AM |
| #9 If they do try 800 suicide bombers it would weed out Hamas livestock. They would run out of suicidal members to work with. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-03-28 8:44:40 AM |
| #8 several dozen to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rome, London, New York, Sydney, Washington..... Excepting Rome and possibly London, they would be very unlikely to get through. Terrorists gravitate to soft targets. The soft targets are in continental Europe as Madrid found out. So your list should be Paris, Brussels, Rome, a Scandinavian city and Madrid again just to make sure the message comes through loud and clear. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-03-28 8:40:49 AM |
| #7 hmmmm... I notice Paris and Madrid aren't on your list, John..... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-03-28 7:26:58 AM |
| #6 Hamas alone in Gaza might only support 7 or eight splody dopes. But what would the impact (sic) of coordinating several dozen to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rome, London, New York, Sydney, Washington..... How would we respond? |
| Posted by: john 2004-03-28 6:52:38 AM |
| #5 I agree, I'm under the distinct impression that even fielding 8 or 9 splody-dopes would be a huge challenge for the paleo's at this moment. |
| Posted by: Evert Visser in NL 2004-03-28 4:59:29 AM |
| #4 I'd have a guess at maybe 8 or 9 at once but 8oo is just pure islamoid fantasy,dumb paloes |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2004-03-28 3:07:27 AM |
| #3 Well, there could be a knockout blow - but I'm not sure it'll be the Israelis who are knocked out. What happens if it's Iraq/Israel? |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-03-28 1:03:23 AM |
| #2 I'll see your 800 suicide bombers, and raise you 10 B-1 bombers... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-03-28 12:43:43 AM |
#1 Hamas Plots Knockout Blow with 800 Suicide BombersIt'll never happen. They can't count that high. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-03-28 12:35:57 AM |