Al Mayadeen– October 22, 2024
Hamas' tactics in North Gaza make it hard to defeat: NYT
According to The New York Times, Hamas’ small-scale, hit-and-run approach has allowed it to continue inflicting damage on "Israel" while avoiding defeat.
Despite the Israeli military claiming it has significantly weakened the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, the group remains undefeated, particularly in northern Gaza, The New York Times reported.
Despite the martyrdom of top commanders, Hamas continues to operate effectively as a guerrilla force.
The recent killing of Israeli Colonel EhsanDaqsa by a planted explosive exemplifies Hamas' ability to endure nearly a year since the Israeli invasion last October and suggests it will continue to resist even after the recent death of its leader, YahyaSinwar.
Hamas fighters are utilizing destroyed buildings and a vast underground tunnel network, which largely remains intact, to launch small-scale attacks and set up booby traps, planting roadside bombs, and firing grenades at Israeli forces before retreating underground.
Hamas’ small-scale, hit-and-run approach has allowed it to continue inflicting damage on "Israel" while avoiding defeat, according to NYT.
The group continues to inflict damage on "Israel" using a stockpile of explosives and small arms.
In the Jabalia refugee camp, one day after eliminating the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Colonel EhsanDaqsa, and seriously wounding the commander of the Brigade's 52nd Battalion, Hamas executed yet another major ambush in the camp.
Currently, the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip is being subject to an Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing, which the Israeli regime describes as the "Generals' Plan."
This is the third incursion by the IOF this year in the camp as Hamas continues to regroup.
Sinwar may be dead but Hamas lives on: Foreign Policy
According to Steven A. Cook, it has become a cliché to assert that "you cannot kill an idea."
Cook writes in Foreign Policy that although Palestinian martyr YahyaSinwar was the mastermind of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and "Israel" believes it achieved a great deal by murdering him,
He recounts the many various leaders of different Resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine and how their assassinations helped build the "mythology of Israel’s security services." Despite this, Cook asserts that "Israel" still has not managed to defeat armed Resistance factions.
He details how Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made Hezbollah one of the greatest Resistance movements in the region after the death of Sayyed Abbas al-Mousawi in 1992 and how subsequently, following the martyrdom of SayyedNasrallah and significant leaders within Hezbollah, it has still launched an unprecedented barrage of rockets at "Israel".
Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the early leader of Hamas, similar to SayyedNasrallah, was also martyred in an airstrike. Cook notes that if his violent death didn't lead his successors to rethink their approach, why would Sinwar's killing have any different result?
Although some believe Sinwar's death could weaken Hamas, Cook emphasizes that resistance is a "critical component of identity," detailing how Sinwar preferred to meet his end from an Israeli tank shell rather than a natural cause, believing that his martyrdom would serve as motivation for further resistance.
"That Israel killed Sinwar seems like a major achievement today, but in time, others will rise—as they always have—to continue to resist," he concludes.
Fetullah Gulen who just died created a global terror network
Most of the fugitive members of the FETO terror group behind the failed 2016 coup bid now live in the US.
The network of FetullahGulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO), which orchestrated the 2016 defeated coup attempt, has been a thorny issue for Türkiye’s foreign policy.
FetullahGulen, who established his cult in the early 1970s, died on Sunday in the United States, where he had been in self-exile for years.
Despite Ankara’s repeated requests and the evidence it had shared on Gulen’s illegal activities, Washington refused to extradite him. This marred the relations between the two NATO allies.
The FETO continues to pose a threat to the international community from countries where it operates schools and other companies.
Gulen’s terror group had established a vast empire of educational institutions, private companies, banks, media outlets, and civil associations within Türkiye and other countries. This expansion was at the centre of a long-drawn plan to infiltrate and undermine Türkiye’s military, intelligence agencies, and judiciary.
Since the failed 2016 coup, which killed more than 250 people and wounded thousands, the Turkish state has removed FETO members from government institutions. Ankara has also warned allies to take similar steps.
The failed coup
On the night of July 15, 2016, tanks rolled across the bridges over the Istanbul Strait, and fighter jets fired on Turkish civilians as Türkiye went through a dramatic coup attempt.
Subsequent investigations found that FETO was behind the coup attempt that aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government.
The coup plotters set up positions on strategic points in Istanbul and Ankara, including bridges, as low-flying fighter jets zoomed past, breaking the sound barriers and causing panic.
As the night unfolded, key figures, including Türkiye's President RecepTayyipErdogan, called for citizens to resist, leading to widespread civilian action against the coup.
The coup attempt was ultimately thwarted, but not without significant loss and turmoil. It resulted in 253 civilian deaths and over 2,700 injuries.
Subsequently, the US authorities turned a deaf ear to Türkiye’s requests to extradite Gulen, who died at the age of 82. FETO has used the US as a base of its activities, and from where it operates hundreds of charter schools and NGOs.
FETO’s global network
FETO has a considerable presence internationally, including private schools -- approximately 150 charter schools in the US -- and hospitals, which serve as a revenue stream for the criminal cult.
FETO-linked charter schools in the US are being used both to raise funds as they siphon off American taxpayer dollars, employ followers of FetullahGulen, and then have FETO teachers tie a significant percentage of their income back to the terror group.
FETO schools in the US have faced legal challenges over financial mismanagement, misappropriation of public funds, and for abusing the immigration process.
Over the years, the terrorist network has scammed billions of dollars in American taxpayers' money.
The group has also operated in several European Union countries, including Germany. It also has a strong presence in the Balkans, Central Asia, and several African countries.
Some of the organisation's activities have laid bare its criminal intentions.
FETO defrauds US Army
In an investigation in 2020, it was revealed that a FETO member in the US was involved in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud the Pentagon.
A Turkish-American car dealer, HurriyetArslan, with links to FETO in New Jersey, pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in an international conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from the US Department of Defense.
US Attorney Craig Carpenito said Arslan, a resident of Willingboro and native of Türkiye, who obtained US citizenship in 2011, conspired with Turkish nationals in 2018 to steal money from a Defense Department contract worth more than $23 million for aviation fuel to be supplied by a company in South Korea.
Schools as recruitment grounds
FETO has used schools to recruit and indoctrinate young people as it constructed a cult around Gulen.
In Türkiye, FETO targets poor families to spread its agenda, but in other countries, it has focused on influential families to send their kids to its schools.
It is estimated that around 1,000 educational institutes are owned and managed by FETO worldwide. The students who are brainwashed in these schools and dormitories are closely followed by the organisation throughout their lives.
The terror group is known for influencing its followers and making crucial decisions regarding their personal and professional lives.
And if this is not enough, then the 2021 case involving child sexual abuse at a FETO-linked school in Orlando, US, should be enough to rattle everyone. The principal of the Orlando Science Charter School was arrested for not reporting the sexual abuse to the police and trying to hush up the matter.
Dangerous cult: A covert network
The group employs covert techniques to maintain discipline, communication, and anonymity, Turkish officials say.
FETO members pledge absolute loyalty to Gulen and use encrypted apps like ByLock and Tango to coordinate activities. The same apps were used during the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.
They also use one-dollar bills with specific serial numbers as symbols of rank and communicate through code names.
FETO’s cryptic messages are often hidden in Gulen's public speeches, enabling the organisation to operate under the guise of religious activity.
This secrecy makes it challenging for intelligence agencies to track their actions, highlighting the group's dangerous influence, especially within state institutions. Türkiye has urged the international community to recognise the security risks posed by FETO.
FETO fugitives
The widespread criminal proceedings that Anakra carried out in the last few years have almost decimated FETO inside Türkiye.
Turkish authorities have arrested thousands of FETO members, but hundreds also managed to flee Türkiye to the US and European countries.
Coordinated and persistent efforts with Turkish foreign missions helped expose FETO’s real objective and its cultish nature to officials of other countries.
Around 136 individuals from 31 countries have been extradited to Türkiye or deported from their host countries upon Ankara’s request.
According to Turkish officials, some 16 percent of fugitive members of FETO are believed to be residing in the US, and 23 percent in Germany.
Assassination of Russia's ambassador
Russia’s former ambassador to Türkiye, AndreyKarlov was shot dead by an off-duty police officer MevlutMertAltintas in Ankara on December 19, 2016.
Gulen, who lived in the US state of Pennsylvania after leaving Türkiye with a fake passport in 1999, was linked to the assassination.
Turkish authorities emphasised that the assassination was an act of provocation aiming to sabotage relations between Türkiye and Russia.
That incident was also later linked to a FETO plot to trigger a war between Türkiye and Russia.
Daily Sabah – October 21, 2024
Türkiye's Hürjet aircraft completes first supersonic flight test
Türkiye's homegrown light attack aircraft Hürjet, developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), completed on Monday its first supersonic flight, an Anadolu Agency (AA) report said, featuring photos of the jet above the capital Ankara.
The governorship of Ankara announced earlier in a social media post that the aircraft would take the test flight in "a planned and controlled manner" between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. local time on Monday, cautioning the citizens "to not experience any anxiety and panic."
The aircraft took off from Mürted Air Base, meeting the sky at 9:45 a.m., the report from NTV said, adding that Hürjet "which performed its first flight above the speed of sound, made a controlled landing at 10:23 a.m. after staying in the air for 38 minutes."
An F-16 fighter jet accompanied Hürjet as it took off into the sky for the flight, it added.
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1).
Featuring a single-engine, tandem cockpit and modern avionics suite, the Hürjet is expected to play a critical role in the Turkish Air Forces Command's inventory, leveraging its superior performance features.
The project was initiated by the TAI in August 2017, with a mock-up was displayed at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow.
The Hürjet project was initiated to replace the Turkish army's T-38 aircraft used in training and the F-5 aircraft used in aerobatic team flights and to meet the needs of potential international customers.
The aircraft completed its inaugural flight in April last year.
Hürjet is 13.4 meters (43 feet) long with a wingspan of 9.5 meters and a height of 5.1 meters.
The advanced jet’s maximum altitude is set at 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers), along with its 2,721-kilogram (6,000-pound) payload and a maximum speed of Mach 1.4.
Recent media reports indicated Spain's interest in Hürjet, noting advanced talks were reportedly underway for a potential aircraft swap. The aircraft was also showcased at the Egypt International Airshow last month.
Daily Sabah – October 21, 2024
Astech to debut smart 'Skywolf' munitions for Turkish drones
Turkish defense startup Astech is set to unveil this week a lightweight smart weapon family for UAV/UCAV, rotary and fixed-wing aircraft named "Skywolf"(Gökkurt), which is set to strengthen Türkiye’s defense capabilities by joining the nation’s growing roster of UCAV munitions, a key export category in the Turkish defense industry.
Astech will unveil the Skywolf Ground Attack Munitions (GAM) family for the first time at the SAHA 2024 International Defense and Aerospace Exhibition in Istanbul,ﾠtaking place from Tuesday to Saturday this week.
Founded by a team of experienced engineers, Astech has participated in several missile and munition projects, leading to mass production in the Turkish defense sector. This experience equips the company with the expertise to implement innovative weapon system solutions, including the Skywolf GAM family.
Astech provides a wide range of advanced defense solutions, from munition system designs to vehicles, missiles, subsystems, sensors, seekers, power systems and rocket engines.
With a focus on high-tech products, Astech’s specialized engineering teams aim to carve out a niche in the international defense arena through global collaborations and partnerships.
As the startup prioritizes solutions to meet contemporary defense needs, the GAM family emerged as its first product line.
Türkiye’s UCAVs to be more powerful
The Skywolf GAM family consists of mini smart weapon systems designed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and UCAVs. It includes three variants: the GAM-A, with a range of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles); the GAM-B, with a range of 40 kilometers; and the GAM-D, with a range of 80 kilometers.
The modular design of the GAM family allows customization to meet specific mission requirements, offering four different seeker options and two warhead types. This enables precision strikes against both fixed and moving targets using advanced guidance technologies.
While the avionics systems and platform interfaces are standard across the three models, they each have unique features. The GAM-A serves as the basic configuration, while the GAM-B and GAM-D incorporate different wing kits, with the GAM-D featuring a propulsion system for enhanced range.
The GAM product family provides significant operational advantages on the battlefield with three range options and warheads weighing 16 kilograms (35 pounds).
Additionally, the GAM-X, the largest variant in the product family, is designed for penetrating armored and protected targets, featuring larger warhead options for enhanced destruction capability.
The GAM family is anticipated to transform battlefield dynamics, particularly when integrated with Turkish UCAV systems. Astech’s GAM warheads are reported to deliver two to three times more power than comparable industry offerings and enable longer ranges.
The GAM features a fire-and-forget capability along with a human-in-the-loop (HITL) firing mode, allowing pilots to interact with the munition and update targets in real-time.
