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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

In longest West Bank raid in 20 years, IDF aims to set stage for future, smaller ops

2024-09-03

[IsraelTimes] Military shifts focus to Jenin, where troops rip up roads to find bombs, work to establish ‘operational control’; army says 14 gunmen killed, over 25 suspects detained.

Troops have been operating in Jenin, considered by Israel to be one of the West Bank’s major terror hotspots, since early Wednesday, making it the longest operation in the territory in over 20 years.

The operation — internally dubbed "Summer Camps" by the army — began with simultaneous raids on Jenin, Tulkarem, and the Far’a camp near Tubas, with the goal of dismantling Iran-backed Hamas
Hamas

..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror networks in the three areas of the northern West Bank.

But the scale of the ongoing raid, as well as its stated goals, are far from what the Israel Defense Forces carried out in 2002’s month-long Operation Defense Shield during the Second Intifada.

So far, according to the IDF, more than 30 button men have been killed in the operation, among them the head of Hamas in Jenin and the head of Islamic Jihad in the Tulkarem area.

One Israeli soldier was killed in Jenin, and several more troops have been maimed in the raids.

The raids in Tulkarem and Far’a have since concluded. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
troops are pressing on with operations in Jenin, where early Monday, a dronezap was carried out against a group of Paleostinians who were hurling explosives at troops.

In Jenin alone, 14 terror operatives have been killed in festivities and four dronezaps; 25 wanted Paleostinians have been detained; some 20 weapons have been seized; and more than 30 bombs have been neutralized, the military said Monday evening.

Just hours after Monday morning’s dronezap, news hounds were given an escorted visit by the Israeli army to Jenin and the city’s refugee camp, where troops since Wednesday have been battling button men, locating weapon manufacturing labs, and ripping up roads to uncover bombs.

Senior IDF officials have said that the operations in Jenin are primarily aimed at giving the military "operational freedom" to be able to act there in the future to thwart terror attacks. This was also the stated goal of the last major operation in Jenin, more than a year ago.

By eroding the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror networks in the area, IDF officials said, the army would be able to more easily carry out arrests of wanted Paleostinians in Jenin and foil major terror attacks that are being planned from the area, using fewer forces and facing less-fierce resistance by local button men.

The IDF has been working to kill the leaders and operatives of the terror networks, as well as demolishing their bomb labs, though with the knowledge that the commanders and button men will likely be replaced and new explosive manufacturing sites established, though not immediately.

Still, military officials said that a balance needs to be found between the intensity of the operations and the repercussions of such raids, as Israel cannot afford to turn the West Bank into its primary front amid the ongoing fighting against Hamas in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and heightened tensions on the northern border.

Israel also lacks the international legitimacy to carry out anything more major in the West Bank, such as staying in Jenin for extended periods of time, IDF officials noted.

The military believes that it can continue to operate at this pace in Jenin and other parts of the West Bank, with near-nightly arrest raids and major operations every few weeks or months, to thwart the attempts by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to grow, thus preventing major terror attacks on Israeli targets.

SCANNING FOR BOMBS, ESTABLISHING CONTROL
In Jenin’s refugee camp on Monday, the usually bustling streets were almost completely empty, and heavily damaged.

Some civilians, including municipal workers fixing up damaged infrastructure and local journalists, were walking about amid the army’s operations.

According to the IDF’s estimates, some 85 percent of the population had moved out of the camp during the raid, largely heading into the city itself. The IDF has allowed Paleostinian civilians to leave the area safely, although it has not issued any evacuation orders.

Many, but not all, of the roads in the camp were ripped up by IDF armored bulldozers, as combat engineers searched for and neutralized dozens of bombs planted under and on the side of the streets by local terror operatives.

Maj. Ron — whose last name was withheld due to security concerns — the chief combat engineer in the IDF’s Menashe Regional Brigade, told news hounds that "the bomb threat ramped up in the past year in the northern [West Bank] area, especially in Jenin."

"The bomb threat is developing, the enemy understands that this is its deadly weapon," the officer said, referring to three deadly roadside kabooms in the northern West Bank in recent months.

"[The enemy] tries to attack our forces on the roads, and our response to that is using the engineering vehicles, the bulldozers, backhoes, which allow us to open up the roads for the forces to reach their objectives," he said.

Chief Superintendent Zacky Tafesh, a senior Border Police officer who has been participating in the ongoing operation, said he had not seen this many bombs during a West Bank operation before.

"There are many bombs here. We haven’t encountered something like this in a long time. We are constantly encountering bombs. But with our experience we know how to deal with it very well," he said.

Asked if ripping up the roads is counterproductive, as it makes it harder for the IDF to locate new bombs planted along a damaged route in the future, Ron, the engineering officer, said "it’s a dilemma" but the goal is "to make sure that our troops aren’t harmed."

"We don’t do anything without thinking first. We don’t strike every area and leave behind total destruction. The engineering operation is not independent. It comes with intelligence," Ron said.

The officers noted that the IDF has not encountered any "game-changing" weapons in Jenin amid the operation so far, such as RPGs or more "high quality" bombs, but they said that they are aware of the possibility.

The engineering officer said, "Our goal in the end is to establish operational control in this area, and not allow them to develop and become stronger. We are here to establish operational control and kill as many button men as possible, which will let the IDF operate accordingly, with more freedom of action."

Tafesh also told news hounds that the goal of the operation, ultimately, is to secure "operational freedom" for future tasks.

"[It’s to] prevent bully boyz from coming from here and carrying out [attacks] on the home front. What we are required to do, as part of the mission, is to contain it all here. Carry out arrests, bring attackers to justice or kill them, and thwart terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, and within the country," he said.

"[The operation] is very significant. As long as the [terror] doesn’t leak out, and we foil it here, that’s an achievement for us. As long as there are no attacks on civilians or soldiers, this is an achievement for us. The required achievement is to foil the attacks before they are carried out," Tafesh added.

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