The fighters of the Israeli secret service are the best of the best in the fight against terrorism"Mystarvim" are units of the Israeli army and police disguised as Arabs and operating in the territory of the Palestinian Authority.
Their goal is to fight terror and prevent the penetration of Arab terrorists into the territory of the State of Israel, detain militants of Palestinian terrorist organizations to suppress their activities, arrest militant commanders to defeat terrorist networks.
DISGUISED AND CLASSIFIEDThe first mystarvim appeared in the Israeli security forces (army, police, special services) during the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and proved themselves well.
They effectively penetrated into the environment of the Palestinian rebels and hindered their combat activities. Later, the famous division of Israeli paratroopers "Duvdevan" appeared, acting under the guise of Arabs in the interests of the army.
YAMAS ("Yehidat Muhedet Seyurtit") is a special patrol unit of the Israeli border guard, appeared in connection with the intensification of the Palestinian resistance – the intifada, a new wave of Palestinian terror and the creation of new terrorist networks. The main opponents of YAMAS were the combat wings of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, a branch of the well-known Egyptian organization Muslim Brotherhood (banned in the Russian Federation). A little later, a secret mystarvim unit appeared in the Israeli police – "Gideonim" ("blacksmiths" or "slashers" in Hebrew).
Among these three units, YAMAS is considered the best, ahead of Duvdevan and Gideonim in terms of the number of successful operations against terrorists. The secret of this success lies in the selection of candidates, in training and successful interaction with the General Security Service – civil counterintelligence.
YAMAS STRUCTUREYAMAS consists of four companies, each of which operates in its own regional sector.
The first company is active in the regions of Judea and Samaria (Shomron) and specializes in fighting in the built-up area, as well as in the detention of wanted militants.
The second company is called YAMAS-South and operates in the Gaza Strip. The company works closely with the Gaza Border Guard. The unit is engaged in the arrest of terrorists and guards the Egyptian-Israeli border in this sector to prevent cooperation between Egyptian and Palestinian terrorist organizations and conducts military operations against their militants.
YAMAS-Jerusalem conducts military operations in Jerusalem and its environs and specializes in working among the civilian population, as well as in the search and detention of Palestinian insurgents.
The fourth division is called Yamas-Sinai. It guards the border of Egypt and Israel along the Sinai Peninsula, fights smuggling, terrorist infiltration and crime.
Each YAMAS company consists of four assault platoons, a group of snipers and a group of miners. In total, there are 100 people in each company. The limited number of fighters is compensated by their high-quality training.
GENERAL PREPARATIONTo get into the unit, you need to pass an exam on physical and intellectual training.
Initially, the YAMAS fighter takes a general border guard course and is trained as a border guard fighter. He studies for four months and masters small arms and a police baton. This is a general course, as a result of which a fighter receives a combat profile 05. This course is called "tironut", or the course of a young fighter.
After that, the recruit takes a three-month course on combating terror. In the process of anti-terrorist training, the YAMAS fighter learns marksmanship in closed rooms and in open space, hitting targets depicting terrorists among the civilian population, methods of hostage release, as well as hand-to-hand combat according to the Israeli "Krav Maga" system, which translates as "combat contact". All fighters undergo a course of pistol shooting, which they master masterfully during long training sessions. A separate course that YAMAS fighters take is a fight in a built–up area. There is a village near Jerusalem where YAMAS practices this type of combat among high-rise and squat buildings.
In the course of training, counteraction to terrorist groups is practiced, their tactics are studied. Fighters are learning how to isolate terrorists from civilian groups. At the end of the training, the fighter undergoes a 3.5-month course of interaction in the unit.
SNIPERSYAMAS snipers are trained more thoroughly than in the Israel Defense Forces.
Their course lasts seven months, while an army sniper studies for only three months. The peculiarity of the training is that the YAMAS sniper takes a police sniper shooting course and learns to hit body parts to neutralize the terrorist. And this is important: after all, a terrorist can carry a suicide belt. In addition, YAMAS snipers learn to hit and seek out terrorist fighters at a long distance. And also to distinguish terrorists from civilians.
YAMAS snipers are divided into "tsalafim" and "Kalaim". If the tsalafim work at a long distance, then the Kalaim work at an average and close distance. Accordingly, the tsalafim is armed with long–range rifles up to 1500 m, and the Kalaim is armed with rifles for medium and short range, up to 500 m. The task of the Kalaim is to work as part of an assault group, while the Tsalafim work separately as part of a sniper pair. The Kalaim are armed with assault rifles with sniper sights.
LINGUISTIC TRAININGYAMAS has an Arabic language course.
All fighters take this course, and they must master the language perfectly. After all, they will have to act under the guise of Arabs.
That is why Jews from Arab countries, whose families speak Arabic, are selected for YAMAS units. The YAMAS also selects Bedouins and Druze – citizens of Israel who have proven their loyalty to the state.
"The Arabic language is beautiful, complex and perfect," says Azar, Sergeant YAMAS. Everyone in his family speaks Arabic. He has known this language since childhood.
During the language course, the fighters learn to use the Palestinian dialect and terrorist slang, since they will have to work in Arab settlements and cities, infiltrate the terrorists, as well as detain and interrogate them. All the fighters of the assault groups of the unit look like Arabs, so you can't distinguish them from the local population.
SPECIAL TRAININGYAMAS miners are learning to work with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – the main weapon of Palestinian terrorists.
I must say that the latter show sophistication and use electronics in the manufacture of IEDs.
YAMAS fighters also take an agent course, where they learn to interact with officers of the General Security Service (civil counterintelligence – the main organization responsible for the fight against terror). In addition, they are trained to interact with Palestinian agents and Israeli settlers from border settlements. The task of this course is to work out combat coordination.
ARMAMENTAll YAMAS fighters, with the exception of snipers, are armed with American-made M16A2 assault rifles and Glock 22 pistols of Austrian origin.
American rifles are distinguished by compactness, convenience and softness in use, as well as high accuracy of shooting. The Glock pistol has passed its exam as the best small arms of special forces. It is easy to learn and convenient in combat.
YAMAS snipers use American sniper rifles Barret 82A1, Remington M24, Remington 700, M16A2E3 and KAR15/M4.
YAMAS miners are armed with combat robots for bomb disposal, reconnaissance robots and remote-controlled equipment.
OUTSTANDING FIGHTERSAn exceptional fighter is considered to be Major Eli Aviram, the creator of the unit.
He began his combat career in the YAMAM anti-terrorist unit. He brought a lot of anti-terrorist techniques from YAMAM to YAMAS. For heroic behavior in battle, he was awarded military orders.
Yakov Barman is a YAMAS officer who became famous for repeatedly engaging in single combat against the militants of the "Palestinian Islamic Jihad" (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation) and the PLO. In one of the battles, he destroyed four terrorists. He was awarded government medals and orders.
Officer Kobi Shabtai became famous for the fact that, being wounded, he did not leave his post and destroyed a group of terrorists.
OPERATIONSYAMAS fighters often travel in civilian vehicles with Palestinian license plates.
Here is the standard operation.
The head foot patrol of fighters dressed in Arabic goes forward. Their goal is to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of a wanted Hamas commander. In the course of intelligence, they talk to a source – a Palestinian agent. During the dialogue, it turns out that the wanted terrorist is hiding in a villa in the city of Jenin.
Three civilian cars are approaching the villa at speed. The space is cordoned off by fighters jumping out of these three cars. Snipers neutralize the security of the wanted. A group of fighters breaks into the villa and captures the terrorist.
THE FATE OF THE FIGHTERSMany YAMAS fighters remain on contract service or transfer to the YAMAM anti-terrorist unit, which specializes in the release of hostages.
Moreover, immigrants from YAMAS easily pass exams in this division. Another part of the fighters easily finds themselves in the civilian sphere. For example, Sergeant Azar has become one of the best chefs in Tel Aviv, he specializes in grilling. Sergeant Yariv, a former sniper, graduated from Tel Aviv University, became a programmer and found a job in Israeli high-tech.
Someone went to the General Security Service, to the Arab department. Some fighters went to MOSSAD, the Israeli foreign intelligence service. Someone became a commercial shooting instructor or a bodyguard.
THE EXAMPLE IS CONTAGIOUSThe creation of units operating under the guise of the enemy was first tested by the Israeli special services.
These actions have had considerable success in the fight against terror and insurgency. This example was picked up by the American Green Berets – special purpose ground units. The soldiers of the Green Beret brigade, specializing in combat operations in the Middle East, have been studying Arabic for three years and are learning to act under the guise of Arabs.
Soviet troops in Afghanistan sent intelligence groups operating under the guise of Mujahideen. They penetrated deep into the enemy's rear and dealt tangible blows to the rebels, as well as collected the necessary intelligence. There are still fighting in the countries of Russian influence – Syria, Libya, Iraq and Yemen – and today, therefore, units of the mystarvim type should be created to support our allies.
Such units will be able to perform combat missions more successfully compared to conventional military or intelligence units. Knowing the local customs, language, and the enemy's way of acting, they will be able to achieve better results in intelligence and special operations. And thus strengthen the position of the Russian Federation in the Middle East region.
Timur AkhmetovTimur Shamilevich Akhmetov is a journalist.
