Gaza -
The Palestinian resistance said that it had achieved a "tactical victory" over Israel by controlling a balloon for spying purposes that fell in the town of Beit Hanoun (northern Gaza Strip). Sources in the resistance described it as a "strategic treasure."
The exact reasons for the fall of the airship are not known. The "Hama al-Ghagour Unit" of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas) thwarted two Israeli attempts to control it, by incurring a foot force to withdraw it, and targeting the vicinity of its fall to destroy it.
And this is not the first time that the resistance has seized Israeli intelligence equipment, without an Israeli reaction comparable to its quick move to recover or destroy this balloon.
What does Israel fear from it falling into the hands of the resistance and its ilk of security technology equipment, especially Hamas?
A question that you answer to Al Jazeera Net, special sources in the resistance.
The Palestinian resistance succeeded in shooting down an Israeli military balloon in the Gaza Strip after it was fired upon.
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— Conflicts and Wars News (@akbaralhurub) June 17, 2022
What is this blimp?
The balloons are classified as among the most advanced equipment in the monitoring and espionage system of the Israeli occupation intelligence, and they are equipped with an integrated monitoring system that includes high-resolution cameras that take pictures around the clock.
The balloon is the subject of the last event, and according to the sources of the resistance, it can fly for 3 consecutive days, and it is of the kind that spreads numbers of in the atmosphere of the Gaza Strip from the eastern and northern sides.
According to the initial information of the resistance, this type of Israeli airships cover the entire area of the Gaza Strip (360 square kilometers), by monitoring and monitoring for a range of 40 to 60 kilometers, and with a 360-degree shooting angle, and transmitting the images and information they observe to the control rooms of the occupation intelligence services .
According to data circulated by specialized Israeli websites, the balloon contains highly rated Israeli technologies at the global level, and is characterized by its accurate adaptation to the fluctuations of weather and weather conditions, and the financial losses for its fall are estimated at about two million shekels (about $600,000).
Technology and information spoils
Immediately after seizing the airship, the resistance subjected it to strict examination by specialized engineers and technicians, to make sure that it did not contain tracking devices and locators.
According to the sources of the resistance, the balloon is subject to a study of the information it contains that is useful in understanding the intelligence work of the occupation, and its use in the “counter plans” that fall within the framework of what is termed the “brain struggle.”
These sources did not want to respond in detail to the allegations of the occupation army that there was no fear of “leakage of valuable information” from the balloon, and contented themselves with confirming that it contained “a treasure trove of sensitive and advanced devices and equipment unparalleled in Gaza, and is still under study and analysis.”
The Israeli occupation has prevented the import of modern technologies, including advanced imaging and satellite broadcasting equipment, to Gaza since the tightening of the siege on the Strip in mid-2007, and it classifies them as "dual-use items" and fears that they will reach the resistance.
After the completion of the balloon data analysis stage, what can be described as "reverse engineering" begins;
It focuses on recycling the “technological spoils of the balloon” from cameras, monitoring devices, recording and broadcasting, “and hurting the occupation with what it made with its own hands,” according to the same sources, which did not rule out that the process of analyzing its data and its work mechanism would help the resistance to manufacture a similar balloon in the foreseeable future, to repeat its previous success in the manufacture of Drones.
The Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth: The cost of the surveillance balloon, which was controlled by the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, is about 2 million shekels.
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— Palestinian Information Center (@PalinfoAr) June 19, 2022
Record of success and achievements
Reliable data prove that the resistance in Gaza since the destruction of the tunnels under the Palestinian-Egyptian border in 2013 - which allowed smuggling devices and techniques needed to develop weapons - has largely depended on local manufacturing in developing its military capabilities, including "recycling" the ammunition it seized. and Israeli military and intelligence equipment.
The resistance - led by the Al-Qassam Brigades - recorded tangible successes in important stations that followed the third Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, by reusing the contents of unexploded Israeli shells, and rehabilitating and operating Israeli "hovercraft" that fell by mistake, or were dropped by the "sniper unit" as well. An event in the city of Rafah (south of the Gaza Strip) in 2019.
The return marches on the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip in 2018 witnessed several successful operations to shoot down Israeli Quad-Capter drones.
However, the most prominent success of the Al-Qassam Brigades was represented in its announcement in early 2019 that it took control of technical devices and equipment containing great secrets of the occupation, which were in the possession of the most important Israeli special unit called “Sirt Matkal” that the resistance revealed after its infiltration into Gaza in November 2018, for the purpose of spying on Hamas' internal communications network.
At the time, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said that "the enemy and its security services should be very worried because the information treasure we have obtained will give us a strategic advantage in terms of the struggle of minds."
Security expert Ibrahim Habib: Israeli airships carry large quantities of technical equipment that can be recycled (Al-Jazeera)
A development that worries Israel
Professor of strategic studies and security expert Ibrahim Habib told Al Jazeera Net that the occupation's reaction to the fall of the balloon contradicts its underestimation of its falling into the "resistance's grip";
These airships carry large amounts of technical equipment, and operate in a stationary mode to carry out accurate intelligence missions.
Habib believes that the previous "minds of resistance engineers" were able to rehabilitate and recycle Israeli equipment, devices and ammunition, and use them in "counter operations", which this time also qualifies them to achieve maximum benefit from the balloon, whether by rehabilitating and using it, or by taking advantage of the information and techniques it contains.
In the opinion of the security expert, the "development of the intelligence ideology of the resistance," despite the limited capabilities in the besieged Gaza, has become a concern for the occupation.