Hizbullah's Intelligence Apparatus
*******************************************
Courtesy Of: Janes Information Group
14 August 2006
Home
The improvement in Hizbullah's counter-espionage and intelligence-gathering capabilities over recent years has taken many observers by surprise. The group has focused on improving its human intelligence on Israel by recruiting agents inside the country who can pass on valuable information. A number of the rockets fired across the border have accurately targeted Israeli military bases. Iran has been extensively involved in this devolvement, providing money and sophisticated technology in order to improve its ally's chances of success in any confrontation.
The militant Lebanese group Hizbullah has an excellent intelligence capability. Various intelligence sources have told Jane's that the group which sparked a major crisis when it captured two Israeli soldiers on 12 July is deeply committed to developing its intelligence, as it believes that accurate information is an essential prerequisite for both military and political success.
Having learnt the importance of information-gathering from its Israeli foes, the group has improved both its internal security to prevent infiltration and its intelligence on Israel over recent years. There has been a major drive to recruit agents inside Israel, while Iran has helped provide the group with more advanced intelligence-gathering technology such as reconnaissance drones and eavesdropping equipment. According to Lebanese Army Brigadier-General (retired) Salim Abu Ismail: "If Hizbullah's military capabilities - especially its missile arsenal and its ranges - were not a mystery for the Israelis, their intelligence capabilities was certainly a real surprise for them."
Domestic Intelligence
Hizbullah probably has the most effective intelligence apparatus in Lebanon. A Western intelligence official based in Beirut who asked not to be named told Jane's: "Hizbullah intelligence is strongly active in Lebanon and has infiltrated all the Lebanese factions and groups... if these factions decided to challenge them [Hizbullah], it would be a very difficult job." A senior commander with Jordan's General Intelligence Department confirmed the official's claims and added that Hizbullah's intelligence on the various Lebanese factions was better than Israel's.
The group has a 'preventative intelligence' department tasked with enforcing organisational security. This includes ensuring that members rarely use communications technology that can be monitored by Israel. It is rumoured that Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has not used a telephone since he became the group's leader in 1992. Operational units are also said to have been restructured in recent years to increase the compartmentalisation of the organisation and minimise the risk of infiltration.
The group also takes counter-espionage very seriously. In June, the Lebanese authorities announced that they had uncovered what they claimed was an Israeli hit squad responsible for the assassination of Hizbullah members and Palestinian militants. Four men were arrested, including a retired Lebanese police officer who apparently confessed to carrying out assassinations on behalf of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad. However, it is believed that Hizbullah intelligence was responsible for exposing the suspected Israeli agents, not the Lebanese security agencies.
The high level of secrecy within the organisation has made it hard for Israel to infiltrate Hizbullah's inner circles and recruit collaborators close to its commanders and leaders. "The secrecy level inside Hizbullah is much higher than in the Palestinian organisations," said an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence official who spoke to Jane's on condition of anonymity. "This makes it much more difficult for Israeli intelligence to get accurate intelligence about their capabilities, methods, training, armaments and intentions."
Spying On Israel
While the surveillance for the 12 July raid could have been done from the Lebanese side of the border, the targets hit in subsequent Hizbullah rocket attacks indicate that the group has developed an effective military intelligence capability inside Israel. While the media has focused on the rockets launched against civilian population centres, Hizbullah has also targeted military assets inside Israel. Brig-Gen Ismail told Jane's: "We were surprised by their [Hizbullah's] intelligence about the targets which they have targeted [with rockets]."
Colonel David Chacham, an advisor to Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz on Arab affairs, provided Jane's with a specific example of this targeting. He said: "I think the missile which targeted the Israeli Air Force base in Zefat [about 15 km from the Lebanese border] was 100 per cent deliberate." Khaled al-Batsh, a prominent leader with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in the Gaza Strip, said: "Hizbullah has strong and clear intelligence about Israeli military sites... without which they would not be able to target the Al-Jurmuq Mountain [Mount Meron] military air base accurately." Batsh avoided the question of whether the PIJ, which is considered the Palestinian group closest to Hizbullah, had provided it with intelligence.
While Hizbullah almost certainly gets information from its Palestinian allies, it has been particularly focused on recruiting members of the Arab minority in northern Israel, especially those that have served with the IDF. Hani al-Masri, a leading Palestinian analyst, told Jane's that the IDF's ongoing operations in the Palestinian Territories was "a very strong" motive for Israeli Arabs to assist Hizbullah.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official told Jane's: "Hizbullah has very detailed and modern military maps about Israel's sensitive military and infrastructure sites [because] some of the Israeli Arabs and Druze who served in the IDF provided Hizbullah with detailed military maps showing military bases and other strategic places." The general added: "[Hizbullah] worked hard during the past six years to recruit IDF soldiers and Israeli Arabs through drugs, money and for ideological reasons."
One such recruitment network operated around Omar el-Heib, a Bedouin who served as a lieutenant-colonel in the IDF and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on espionage charges in June. Using Lebanese drug dealers, Hizbullah transferred dozens of kilograms of hashish and heroin to Heib's network, which was tasked with gathering intelligence on IDF positions and movements in northern Israel. Heib worked for Hizbullah even though he was blinded in one eye and left partially paralysed by a roadside bomb in southern Lebanon in 1996.
Iranian Assistance
While Hizbullah's Palestinian and Israeli Arab spies may be motivated by anti-Israeli sentiment, the group's recruitment drive has been aided by the money that it receives from Iran, its primary supporter. Masri told Jane's: "For sure Hizbullah has concrete intelligence about Israel; this is a party that receives about USD100 million per year from Iran and is ready to pay in order to recruit agents inside Israel who will provide them with the necessary intelligence."
Israel has known for years that Iran was supplying longer range rockets to Hizbullah and there have been warnings in recent months that the group was planning to kidnap Israelis. A Hizbullah operation against the IDF in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on 21 November 2005 appeared to be a well-planned, but ultimately failed attempt to capture Israeli soldiers. However, the Israeli navy was still surprised by the presence of Iranian Noor anti-ship missiles in Lebanon, one of which hit and damaged the missile corvette Hanit on 14 July. IDF sources told Jane's that they are now working on the presumption that Hizbullah could have any weapons system in Iran's inventory.
Israeli intelligence believes that Iranian and Hizbullah intelligence operations against Israel are closely connected. "All the Iranian capabilities are in the hands of Hizbullah," an Israeli security official told Jane's on the condition of anonymity. He also suggested that Iranian personnel were helping Hizbullah on the ground in Lebanon. He added: "The Iranian Revolutionary Guards who are in Lebanon are not on a recreation mission; for sure they are there to strengthen Hizbullah's capabilities."
Hizbullah's use of Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has been the most publicised aspect of this intelligence-gathering collaboration. Hizbullah announced in November 2004 that its 'Mirsad-1' UAV had made its first reconnaissance flight over Israel. Another flight was made in April 2005. According to Jane's experts, the Mirsad-1 is a version of the Iranian Mohajer-4 UAV, which has an infrared camera and GPS navigation. In November 2004, the London-based Arabic paper Al-Sharq al-Awsat cited a senior Revolutionary Guards officer as saying that eight Mohajer-4 drones were supplied to Hizbullah in August 2004 and that Iran had trained Hizbullah members to operate them.
Iran also seems to have helped Hizbullah develop a signals intelligence capability. Brigadier-General Gal Hirsch, the commander of the IDF's 91 Division, told reporters on 25 July that Israeli soldiers found rooms full of Iranian-made equipment during the battle for Bint Jbeil (a Hizbullah stronghold in southern Lebanon), including eavesdropping devices, computers and communications devices, up-to-date and detailed military maps of Israeli strategic targets, and lists of telephone numbers in Israel. While it is unclear how sophisticated the equipment was, Hizbullah apparently managed to send SMS text messages to residents of northern Israel, warning them to leave their homes to avoid being targeted in much the same way as the IDF has advised residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.
This is in line with Hizbullah's ambition to mimic Israel's sophisticated capabilities. Newar a-Saheli, a senior Hizbullah field commander in southern Beirut, told Jane's in a phone call on 28 July: "We are trying to fight Israel with the same intelligence weapons that it fights us with. We are trying to develop the reconnaissance methods and understand how they think and what they may do." Saheli vowed that Hizbullah had more intelligence surprises, saying: "Our mujahdeen will surprise them soon when, where and how they never expected."
"IDF sources told Jane's that they are now working on the presumption that Hizbullah could have any weapons system in Iran's inventory
Link to Article:
*******************************************
Courtesy Of: Janes Information Group
14 August 2006
Home
The improvement in Hizbullah's counter-espionage and intelligence-gathering capabilities over recent years has taken many observers by surprise. The group has focused on improving its human intelligence on Israel by recruiting agents inside the country who can pass on valuable information. A number of the rockets fired across the border have accurately targeted Israeli military bases. Iran has been extensively involved in this devolvement, providing money and sophisticated technology in order to improve its ally's chances of success in any confrontation.
The militant Lebanese group Hizbullah has an excellent intelligence capability. Various intelligence sources have told Jane's that the group which sparked a major crisis when it captured two Israeli soldiers on 12 July is deeply committed to developing its intelligence, as it believes that accurate information is an essential prerequisite for both military and political success.
Having learnt the importance of information-gathering from its Israeli foes, the group has improved both its internal security to prevent infiltration and its intelligence on Israel over recent years. There has been a major drive to recruit agents inside Israel, while Iran has helped provide the group with more advanced intelligence-gathering technology such as reconnaissance drones and eavesdropping equipment. According to Lebanese Army Brigadier-General (retired) Salim Abu Ismail: "If Hizbullah's military capabilities - especially its missile arsenal and its ranges - were not a mystery for the Israelis, their intelligence capabilities was certainly a real surprise for them."
Domestic Intelligence
Hizbullah probably has the most effective intelligence apparatus in Lebanon. A Western intelligence official based in Beirut who asked not to be named told Jane's: "Hizbullah intelligence is strongly active in Lebanon and has infiltrated all the Lebanese factions and groups... if these factions decided to challenge them [Hizbullah], it would be a very difficult job." A senior commander with Jordan's General Intelligence Department confirmed the official's claims and added that Hizbullah's intelligence on the various Lebanese factions was better than Israel's.
The group has a 'preventative intelligence' department tasked with enforcing organisational security. This includes ensuring that members rarely use communications technology that can be monitored by Israel. It is rumoured that Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has not used a telephone since he became the group's leader in 1992. Operational units are also said to have been restructured in recent years to increase the compartmentalisation of the organisation and minimise the risk of infiltration.
The group also takes counter-espionage very seriously. In June, the Lebanese authorities announced that they had uncovered what they claimed was an Israeli hit squad responsible for the assassination of Hizbullah members and Palestinian militants. Four men were arrested, including a retired Lebanese police officer who apparently confessed to carrying out assassinations on behalf of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad. However, it is believed that Hizbullah intelligence was responsible for exposing the suspected Israeli agents, not the Lebanese security agencies.
The high level of secrecy within the organisation has made it hard for Israel to infiltrate Hizbullah's inner circles and recruit collaborators close to its commanders and leaders. "The secrecy level inside Hizbullah is much higher than in the Palestinian organisations," said an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence official who spoke to Jane's on condition of anonymity. "This makes it much more difficult for Israeli intelligence to get accurate intelligence about their capabilities, methods, training, armaments and intentions."
Spying On Israel
While the surveillance for the 12 July raid could have been done from the Lebanese side of the border, the targets hit in subsequent Hizbullah rocket attacks indicate that the group has developed an effective military intelligence capability inside Israel. While the media has focused on the rockets launched against civilian population centres, Hizbullah has also targeted military assets inside Israel. Brig-Gen Ismail told Jane's: "We were surprised by their [Hizbullah's] intelligence about the targets which they have targeted [with rockets]."
Colonel David Chacham, an advisor to Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz on Arab affairs, provided Jane's with a specific example of this targeting. He said: "I think the missile which targeted the Israeli Air Force base in Zefat [about 15 km from the Lebanese border] was 100 per cent deliberate." Khaled al-Batsh, a prominent leader with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in the Gaza Strip, said: "Hizbullah has strong and clear intelligence about Israeli military sites... without which they would not be able to target the Al-Jurmuq Mountain [Mount Meron] military air base accurately." Batsh avoided the question of whether the PIJ, which is considered the Palestinian group closest to Hizbullah, had provided it with intelligence.
While Hizbullah almost certainly gets information from its Palestinian allies, it has been particularly focused on recruiting members of the Arab minority in northern Israel, especially those that have served with the IDF. Hani al-Masri, a leading Palestinian analyst, told Jane's that the IDF's ongoing operations in the Palestinian Territories was "a very strong" motive for Israeli Arabs to assist Hizbullah.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official told Jane's: "Hizbullah has very detailed and modern military maps about Israel's sensitive military and infrastructure sites [because] some of the Israeli Arabs and Druze who served in the IDF provided Hizbullah with detailed military maps showing military bases and other strategic places." The general added: "[Hizbullah] worked hard during the past six years to recruit IDF soldiers and Israeli Arabs through drugs, money and for ideological reasons."
One such recruitment network operated around Omar el-Heib, a Bedouin who served as a lieutenant-colonel in the IDF and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on espionage charges in June. Using Lebanese drug dealers, Hizbullah transferred dozens of kilograms of hashish and heroin to Heib's network, which was tasked with gathering intelligence on IDF positions and movements in northern Israel. Heib worked for Hizbullah even though he was blinded in one eye and left partially paralysed by a roadside bomb in southern Lebanon in 1996.
Iranian Assistance
While Hizbullah's Palestinian and Israeli Arab spies may be motivated by anti-Israeli sentiment, the group's recruitment drive has been aided by the money that it receives from Iran, its primary supporter. Masri told Jane's: "For sure Hizbullah has concrete intelligence about Israel; this is a party that receives about USD100 million per year from Iran and is ready to pay in order to recruit agents inside Israel who will provide them with the necessary intelligence."
Israel has known for years that Iran was supplying longer range rockets to Hizbullah and there have been warnings in recent months that the group was planning to kidnap Israelis. A Hizbullah operation against the IDF in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on 21 November 2005 appeared to be a well-planned, but ultimately failed attempt to capture Israeli soldiers. However, the Israeli navy was still surprised by the presence of Iranian Noor anti-ship missiles in Lebanon, one of which hit and damaged the missile corvette Hanit on 14 July. IDF sources told Jane's that they are now working on the presumption that Hizbullah could have any weapons system in Iran's inventory.
Israeli intelligence believes that Iranian and Hizbullah intelligence operations against Israel are closely connected. "All the Iranian capabilities are in the hands of Hizbullah," an Israeli security official told Jane's on the condition of anonymity. He also suggested that Iranian personnel were helping Hizbullah on the ground in Lebanon. He added: "The Iranian Revolutionary Guards who are in Lebanon are not on a recreation mission; for sure they are there to strengthen Hizbullah's capabilities."
Hizbullah's use of Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has been the most publicised aspect of this intelligence-gathering collaboration. Hizbullah announced in November 2004 that its 'Mirsad-1' UAV had made its first reconnaissance flight over Israel. Another flight was made in April 2005. According to Jane's experts, the Mirsad-1 is a version of the Iranian Mohajer-4 UAV, which has an infrared camera and GPS navigation. In November 2004, the London-based Arabic paper Al-Sharq al-Awsat cited a senior Revolutionary Guards officer as saying that eight Mohajer-4 drones were supplied to Hizbullah in August 2004 and that Iran had trained Hizbullah members to operate them.
Iran also seems to have helped Hizbullah develop a signals intelligence capability. Brigadier-General Gal Hirsch, the commander of the IDF's 91 Division, told reporters on 25 July that Israeli soldiers found rooms full of Iranian-made equipment during the battle for Bint Jbeil (a Hizbullah stronghold in southern Lebanon), including eavesdropping devices, computers and communications devices, up-to-date and detailed military maps of Israeli strategic targets, and lists of telephone numbers in Israel. While it is unclear how sophisticated the equipment was, Hizbullah apparently managed to send SMS text messages to residents of northern Israel, warning them to leave their homes to avoid being targeted in much the same way as the IDF has advised residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.
This is in line with Hizbullah's ambition to mimic Israel's sophisticated capabilities. Newar a-Saheli, a senior Hizbullah field commander in southern Beirut, told Jane's in a phone call on 28 July: "We are trying to fight Israel with the same intelligence weapons that it fights us with. We are trying to develop the reconnaissance methods and understand how they think and what they may do." Saheli vowed that Hizbullah had more intelligence surprises, saying: "Our mujahdeen will surprise them soon when, where and how they never expected."
"IDF sources told Jane's that they are now working on the presumption that Hizbullah could have any weapons system in Iran's inventory
Link to Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment