At present, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has entered its fifth day. Recently, Big Ivan has paid attention to the updates of some open source intelligence bloggers to understand the situation on both fronts. Ivan did not believe that there was a need to update the front, as Hamas's Qassam Brigades adopted a guerrilla tactic, taking advantage of the IDF's slow movement and small numbers, carrying out mobile attacks through light vehicles and then quickly withdrawing. Although the Qassam Brigades exist everywhere from Gaza to the West Bank, even occupying the southern part of Israeli-controlled territory, this is of no practical significance.
After attacking a point, the Qassam Brigade did not have enough strength to control it, and once the Israeli army launched an attack, the Qassam Brigade would quickly withdraw. Therefore, the tactics of the Kasan brigade were centered on the main points, and not on a long front. It is completely different from the style of war and the logic of operations in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and it is impossible to compare and delineate the front. This conflict is a guerrilla war that we have been waiting for for a long time, but have never really witnessed. As for the performance of the IDF, Big Ivan was frank. Rather than focusing on the casualties of Israeli soldiers, Ivan the Great paid more attention to the casualties of senior Israeli commanders.
Through the open-source intelligence information carried by some Weibo bigwigs, it can be said that Israel's middle and senior commanders suffered heavy casualties this time. Among them was Colonel Yotana Steinberg, commander of the IDF 933rd Infantry Brigade, who was the first mid- and senior-ranking officer to be confirmed as having suffered casualties in the clashes. According to the situation at the Kerim Shalom military base, he may have been killed or injured by a commando attack by the Kasan Brigade. Another casualty commander was Major Orr Joseph, commander of the IDF 217th "Cherry" reconnaissance battalion, a long-range reconnaissance and search unit directly under the Central Command.
Like Colonel Jotanner Steinberg, he may have been killed or injured by a direct attack by the commandos of the Kasan Brigade. Big Ivan expressed concern about these casualties and hoped that the situation could calm down as soon as possible and avoid further sacrifices. What do the officials think about this matter? Feel free to say what you think in the comments section! Also killed was Lieutenant Colonel Sahar Mahlouf, commander of the 481st Communications Battalion of the 143rd "Gaza" Division of the Israeli army, who died in the same cause of death as the previous two, who was directly beheaded by the commandos of the Qassam Brigade in the first round of firefights. However, starting on October 8, the situation became more and more outrageous.
That afternoon, the second colonel officer of the Israeli army, named Roy Levy, was killed as the commander of the "Ghost" brigade, an elite unit of the 98th Parachute Division of the Israel Defense Forces, according to public information. The "ghost" brigade is an experimental multi-domain warfare unit formed by the Israeli army in 2019 modeled after the U.S. Army's Task Force 1.
The unit brings together parts of the Nahar Brigade, the Gorani Brigade and the Parachute Brigade, as well as special operations personnel from artillery reconnaissance units and combat sapper search teams, and can even mobilize the Israeli Air Force's F-16 fighters to ensure optimal kill chain efficiency. Judging from the mission history and combat readiness of the unit, the unit has shown pride in the past Gaza conflict, and with its skilled combat skills and strong combat capabilities, it is undoubtedly the top unit in the Israel Defense Forces, and the level of readiness and full strength are bound to be the highest.
However, as soon as they encountered the Kassan Brigade commando, the commander died, and it was the afternoon of the next day, and there was no possibility that they would still be blocked on the kang and killed, so how were they killed?
More outrageous things were yet to come, and that evening, the IDF announced that in addition to the commander of the "Spectre" brigade killed by the Qassam brigade, the deputy commander of the special forces of the Israeli army, the Maglan special forces unit, Major Bukris, was also killed in the battle, and several lieutenants of the two special forces were killed, and five members of the "Yamam" special forces belonging to the Israeli border defense system were killed by the Qassan brigade.
Subsequently, the Israeli military further disclosed that the Israeli Army General Staff Reconnaissance and Search Unit (Sayeret Matkal, mistranslated as "Wild Boys") also had two colonels killed in the battle, at least at the level of sub-unit commanders. Judging by where these men were deployed and when they were killed, it is unlikely that they were killed on the spot by the Kasan Brigade commando on the first day of the raid, and it is relatively likely that they were killed in a head-on engagement with the Kasan Brigade on the second day. Do you already feel outrageous?
Well, it's not over yet, on October 9 the IDF continued to deliver news to the public, and on the same day the commander of the 934th reconnaissance battalion under the "Nahar" brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Chuer, was also killed. What do the officials think about this matter? Feel free to say what you think in the comments section! This so-called reconnaissance battalion is actually a special operations unit of various Israeli infantry brigades, including one each of the "Nahar" brigade, the "Gorani" brigade and the "Jivati" brigade. However, when they faced the Kasan Brigade, the battalion commander was quickly killed.
Next killed was an inspector-level officer of the "Yamam" special forces, who, like Lieutenant Colonel Chuhl, was killed in a frontal battle with the commando of the Kasan Brigade. It is reported that another "Yamam" special forces commander, Soram, was also directly captured by the Kasan Brigade. According to the latest information, the commander of the 5101st "Kingfisher" reconnaissance and search unit of the Israeli Air Force revealed that they suffered heavy losses in a frontal battle with the commandos of the Qassan Brigade. At present, the situation of the battle between the two sides is still constantly updated, and Big Ivan is also paying close attention to the deaths of relevant senior officers.
In the light of the current fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and the Qassam Brigade, two issues deserve attention. First, there is an excessive number of IDF special operations units. Through the information of these fallen Israeli officers, we can find that these special operations officers account for a considerable proportion of the Israeli officers killed. Second, the number of officers killed in the special forces seems to be too large, such as Matkal special forces, "ibis", "kingfisher", "ghost" special forces, etc., these are the best units of the Israeli special forces, but they have the death of their commanders in the first face.
In conclusion, there were anomalies in the number of special operations units of the Israeli army and the probability of special forces commanders being killed in battle. On the first question, Ivan believes that this may be the result of the Israeli army's military service system and the use of troops. According to yesterday's reports, the Israeli army has a compulsory military service system, and only seven brigades of the army can maintain full combat teams in peacetime, and the remaining five brigades can only remain half-full.
In order to maintain the basic combat effectiveness of these half-full infantry brigades, they may have adopted a similar approach to the Ukrainian army, which is to integrate capable contract soldiers into a reinforced battalion battle group to respond to contingencies. Often referred to as a "reconnaissance battalion," this battalion-level battle group is nominally specialized infantry, but in fact is the most elite group of personnel in the entire brigade that can be called upon when needed. May I ask you, officers, what do you think about this matter?
Welcome to share your thoughts in the comments section! Today's headline creators found that the Israeli army used a large number of special forces, most of them contract soldiers, in the battle with the Qassam brigade. Why is this happening? The problem of special forces directly under the General Staff of the remaining military districts and the General Staff is similar, perhaps because the Israeli army is flooded with a large number of low-performing conscripts in peacetime, and in operations such as security operations, the use of all-contract troops may be the only way.
In addition, the special forces in the Israeli army are relatively elite in peacetime, basically contract soldiers, and the Qassan brigade had a sudden incident, rushing to mobilize and unable to mobilize enough manpower, so it could only pull up the reconnaissance battalion of the infantry brigade and the reconnaissance and search force of the general participation in the military district. What do you think is the reason why the Israeli army is in such a difficult situation? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to share your views! According to the elder Ivan, the combat effectiveness of the Israeli infantry in the situation of unclear conditions and lack of reconnaissance may face a Grozny-like urban battlefield in the Gazny city, which will pose a greater challenge to the Israeli army.
For now, we need to continue to monitor the fighting between the Israeli Army and Hamas in order to understand how the conflict is headed. What is your opinion on this matter? Welcome to share your thoughts in the comment area!