Rescuing Hostages- Terrorism Has Evolved

Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Three o'clock in the morning at the Ono Academic College in Kiryat-Ono. Throughout the daytime, students study here to become lawyers and business executives, but at night, the people here deal with something entirely different: rescuing hostages who have the barrels of AK assault rifles pressed to their heads and explosive vests strapped to their bodies. The buildings of the college become a makeshift training ground for the IDF Counterterrorism unit, Lotar.

...Israel's two primary hostage rescue units are the Israel Police's Specialist Counterterrorism Unit, Yamam, and Sayeret Matkal – the elite reconnaissance and special operations unit of the IDF Intelligence Directorate. Other units such as the IDF Naval Commandos, the IAF 669th Airborne Rescue and Evacuation Unit, the IAF special operations unit Shaldag, et al, also possess counterterrorism capabilities. All of these units practice breaking into aircraft, buses and schools, as well as a recent addition: a scenario of a passenger train hijacked by terrorists and rescued in a night takeover operation.
"Whereas Israel Railways do not have excess coaches, we conduct our training activities onboard real trains, during the night, at the railway station in the town of Lod, when no one is around. The train scenario is a highly relevant scenario," says a senior officer in the unit, but it is not the only means of transportation that could become the objective of passenger kidnapping. "We also practice hostage rescuing from a bus, an aircraft and a ship".

Read the full article from IsraelDefense.com [here].