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"Out of the Depths" - Former IDF Combat Engineering Commander Views the Tunnel Threat

(Israel Defense) Col. (res.) Atai Shelach - During the Gaza war, Israel revised its working assumption regarding the subterranean threat of offensive terror tunnels. For the first time in its history, Israel embarked on a military campaign intended to destroy a military obstacle that had evolved into a strategic threat to its security. Moreover, it embarked on the operation without possessing the tools required to eliminate the threatening phenomenon. It has lacked almost totally any supporting technological capability for spotting the tunnels. Nevertheless, it embarked on the operation, and it has been rather successful in locating and destroying all of the offensive tunnels it had been aware of prior to the ground move and during the ground move. We still have a long way to go before we can find a lasting solution regarding the subterranean medium. This phenomenon applies not only to the southern region but to all of Israel's borders. I have no doubt that the Israeli defense establishment will initiate substantial moves aimed at further improving the operational capability to handle this threat. Col. (res.) Atai Shelach is the former commander of the elite Yahalom unit of the IDF Combat Engineers.
2014-10-03 00:00:00
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