Southern brigade trains to counter Sinai threats
10/12/2012 01:21
IDF’s Sagi Brigade hold special training course to familiarize its commanders with a host of new anti-terror measures.
Beduins inspect their weapons in Sinai Peninsula Photo: Asmaa Waguih / Reuters
The IDF’s Sagi Brigade, which secures the Egyptian border, held a special
training course this week to familiarize its commanders with a host of new
measures being introduced to deal with the growing threat of terrorism from
Sinai.
The new training comes a month after a Salafi jihadi group
launched a deadly cross-border attack that killed an IDF soldier, and two months
after jihadis killed 16 Egyptian security personnel and attempted to burst into
Israel from Sinai with explosives-laden vehicles.
The new training is
based on the scenario of a sophisticated terror attack involving a combination
of threats – firearms, explosives and mortars.
“The training and
techniques are designed to allow us to act quickly, and to take decisions
quickly,” said Brig.-Gen. Nadav Padan, commander of the Sagi Brigade. “We are
expected to defend the sector. This requires a creative analysis of the sector
and of responses to challenges.”
The IDF has in recent weeks deployed the
field intelligence-gathering Racoon and Granite vehicles – which are packed with
surveillance equipment – near the border.
Uncovering and neutralizing
roadside bombs has formed a major focus of the new defensive means used by the
Sagi Brigade.
To that end, K-9 units and Engineering Corpse Units are now
present on the border. IDF trackers are also trained to identify attempts by
terror cells to mislead the IDF after crossing the border.
The Shin Bet
(Israel Security Agency) continues to gather intelligence on global jihad
activities in Gaza and attempts by terrorists from Gaza to launch attacks on
Israel via Sinai. This intelligence led to this week’s airstrike on two
Salafi-jihadi operatives who were in the final stages of preparing an attack on
Israel from Sinai.
In the meantime, the Defense Ministry is continuing to
build the security fence along the border. Although it will offer protection
against the new threats from Sinai, the IDF does not expect the fence to stop
all future terror-related incidents, such as rocket attacks and attempts by
heavily armed cells to cross the border.