Israel's high tech hit squad wins elite status

TEL AVIV — An Israeli intelligence corps charged with surgically eliminating Palestinian revolt commanders has emerged as the elite force in the military's arsenal against the ongoing uprising.

Israel's military plans to give funding priority to its new Field Intelligence corps amid the current mini-war with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Military commanders said the new corps — established last year — has produced impressive results during the more than three months of fighting in the guerrilla war between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters. They said the corps has been vital in identifying targets for Israeli troops as well as providing alerts for Palestinian attacks.

Israeli commando forces have killed about 30 Palestinian revolt commanders in what PA officials said is an assassination campaign by the military, Middle East Newsline reported. The targets have been both Palestinian and civilian leaders of the revolt.

"There is an agreement that we are the priority," Brig. Gen. Amnon Sofrin, commander of the corps, said. "We have drawn conclusions from the fighting in terms of doctrine, training, personnel and equipment."

Sofrin said a key lesson included the need for rapid information from intelligence assets to ground troops. The corps has used unmanned air vehicles, radar, reconnaissance outposts and helicopters to gather information. The information is then fed to the Ground Forces Command and subsequently to field commanders.

"The information now goes faster to the troops," Sofrin said. "We have closed the gap between our intelligence and operations."

Field commanders agreed. "We have a real-time picture of the ground situation," an Israeli commander in the West Bank city of Hebron said. "We are now getting alerts of impending Palestinian attacks and the element of surprise has diminished."

A senior Israeli air force officer said a priority of the PA is to smuggle anti-aircraft missiles to down Israeli attack helicopters that prowl the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The officer said the PA is believed to have smuggled shoulder-fired Stinger missiles.

Sofrin said his corps plans to ensure that intelligence is relayed in real-time to the battalion level. Currently, the information flows to the level of division. He said the corps has agreed with Ground Forces Command chief Maj. Gen. Moshe Ivri-Sukenik for a tactical UAV for autonomous use by ground forces commanders.

"We sat down with him and recognized the need for such a UAV," Sofrin said. "At this point, the tactical UAV does not have a special budget."