Hamas Militants

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ( ar, كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام, , Battalions of martyr Izz ad-Din al-Qassam; also spelt Izzedine or Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades; often shortened to Al-Qassam Brigades, IQBIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) – Hamas
" ''Mapping Palestinian Politics''. European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2021 May 20. or EQB), named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. Currently led by Mohammed Deif and his deputy, Marwan Issa, IQB is the largest and best-equipped group operating within Gaza today.

Created in mid-1991, it was at the time concerned with blocking the Oslo Accords negotiations. From 1994 to 2000, the Al-Qassam Brigades has claimed responsibility for carrying out a number of attacks against Israelis.

At the beginning of the Second Intifada, the group became a central target of Israel. The group's strength and its ability to carry out complex and lethal attacks surprised many observers. The Al-Qassam Brigades operated several cells in the West Bank, but most of them were destroyed by 2004 following numerous operations of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the region. In contrast, Hamas retained a forceful presence in the Gaza Strip, generally considered its stronghold. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip since February 2017, is a military leader in the Brigades in Gaza.

The Al-Qassam Brigades are explicitly listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, and the United Kingdom. Though not explicitly mentioning IQB, the United States and CanadaAl-Qassam Brigades , Database
" ''Jihad Intel''. Middle East Forum. Retrieved 2021 May 20. have designated its parent entity, Hamas, as a terrorist organization; Brigade leader Mohammed Deif has also been classified as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US under Executive Order 13224.Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List
" U.S. Department of the Treasury. 2021 May 20. Retrieved 2021 May 20. As the Brigades undertake military activity on behalf of Hamas, "organized terrorist activities associated with Hamas can be reliably attributed to the Brigades."

Overview

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas, operating in the Gaza Strip. It is currently led by Mohammed Deif and its deputy, Marwan Issa.
The Al-Qassam Brigades is named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, a Muslim preacher and ''mujahid'' in Mandatory Palestine. In 1930, al-Qassam organised and established the Black Hand, a militant organisation that was opposed to Zionism and British and French rule in the Levant.

According to the Al-Qassam Brigades, its aims are:

:To contribute in the effort of liberating Palestine and restoring the rights of the Palestinian people under the sacred Islamic teachings of the Holy Quran, the Sunnah (traditions) of Prophet Muhammad ( peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the traditions of Muslims rulers and scholars noted for their piety and dedication.
In summary, the Brigades seek to establish an Islamist state of Palestine, comprising Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel—ending Israel as a political entity in the process.

Organisation and structure

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades are an integral part of Hamas. While they are subordinate to Hamas's broad political goals and its ideological objectives, they have a significant level of independence in decision making.al-Qassam Brigades: Details of the organisation
." ''Australian National Security''. Australian Government. updated 2018. Retrieved 2021 May 20
Archived
from the original on 22 August 2011. In 1997, political scientists Ilana Kass and Bard O'Neill described Hamas' relationship with the Brigades as reminiscent of Sinn Féin's relationship to the military arm of the Irish Republican Army and quoted a senior Hamas official: "The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade is a separate armed military wing, which has its own leaders who do not take their orders rom Hamasand do not tell us of their plans in advance."''The Deadly Embrace: The Impact of Israeli and Palestinian Rejectionism on the Peace Process''
University Press of America, Ilana Kass & Bard E. O'Neill, 1997, p. 267 Carrying the IRA analogy further, Kass and O'Neill stated that the separation of the political and military wings shielded Hamas' political leaders from responsibility for terrorism while the plausible deniability this provided made Hamas an eligible representative for peace negotiations as had happened with Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams.

The fighters' identities and positions in the group often remain secret until their death; even when they fight against Israeli incursions, all the militants wear a characteristic black hood on which the group's green headband is attached. The Brigades operate on a model of independent cells and even high-ranking members are often unaware of the activities of other cells. This allows the group to consistently regenerate after member deaths. During the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the leaders of the group were targeted by numerous airstrikes that killed many members, including Salah Shahade and Adnan al-Ghoul. The current leader of the Brigades, Mohammed Deif, remains at large and is said to have survived at least five assassination attempts.

Notable members

* Mohammed Deif
*Marwan Issa
*Yahya Ayash
*Adnan al-Ghoul
*Salah Shahade
*Wa'el Nassar
* Ahmed Jabari
*Salama Hamad
*Imad Abbas
*Imad Akel
* Nidal Fat'hi Rabah Farahat
*Abu Obeida, spokesman
* Yunis al-AstalJeroen Gunning; p. 179; ''Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence'', Columbia University Press, 2008,
*Muhammad Nazami Nasser

History

Background

In 1984, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Ibrahim al-Makhadmeh, Sheikh Salah Shehada, and others began preparing for the establishment of an armed organization to resist Israeli control, with a focus on acquiring weapons for future resistance activities. Members of the group were, however, arrested and the weapons were confiscated.

In 1986, Shehada formed a network of resistance cells, called ''al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniun'' ('Palestinian fighters'), who targeted Israeli troops and "traitors." This network operated until 1989, with their most famous operation being the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers: Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon.

Hamas was officially established soon after, on 14 December 1987, forming other similar networks as ''al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniun'', such as the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. In mid-1991, in during the First Palestinian Intifada (1987-1994), the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades was established to provide Hamas with a paramilitary capability, thereafter becoming known as the armed branch of Hamas.

Contemporary operations and activities

The international community, and more specifically the United Nations, considers the practice of war combatants to turn civilians into human shields as a violation of the Geneva Conventions standards of war, and considers indiscriminate attacks (e.g., by rockets or suicide bombers) on civilian populations as illegal under international law.

The IQB's transition into a recognised militant organisation began during the establishment of the Oslo Accords to assist Hamas efforts in blocking them. In 2003 and 2004, the Brigades in Gaza resisted incursions by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including the siege of Jabalya in October 2004. However, these battles took a heavy toll in the IQB's ranks, which suffered heavy losses. The group, however, continued to gain strength and remained capable of carrying out attacks in the following years. The Brigades can count on a large pool of people willing to join them , smuggle in supplies and provide the fighters with homemade weapons such as the al-Bana, the Batar, the Yasin and the Qassam rocket.

In early 2005, the Al-Qassam Brigades appeared to stand by a truce negotiated between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. However the Brigades took advantage of the truce to regroup. Following Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, the Al-Qassam Brigades staged several rallies in which they displayed thousands of fighters and an assortment of weaponry in Gaza. These celebrations ended abruptly when, on 23 September, twenty Palestinians were killed as a car carrying Qassam rockets exploded among a dense crowd. Since this incident, the brigades refrained from staging public displays of force as well as launching attacks at Israel, which, in turn, refrained from targeting Hamas members in assassinations and raids. Despite occasional and brief flare-ups of violence, the brigades generally respected this truce until the beginning of June 2006. The Palestinian Authority has been, during this period, under intense pressure from Israel and the Middle East Quartet to disarm Hamas, but fears of heavy resistance from the Al-Qassam Brigades and a possible civil war, coupled with a victory of the movement in the 2006 legislative elections, prevented any such attempts. As a result, it is widely believed that the brigades stockpiled thousands of homemade weapons and projectiles during 2005 and 2006 and were actively attempting to rebuild their destroyed cells in the West Bank.

Also in 2005, President Mahmoud Abbas had taken direct control of the PA security forces which was loyal to the president's Fatah movement, and the Hamas government formed a separate 3,000-strong paramilitary police force in the Gaza Strip, called Executive Force, which was made up of members of the Al-Qassam Brigades.Friedrich and Luethold–2007, p. 22"The Palestinian Security Services: Past and Present"
. MIFTAH, 30 May 2006
. ''New York Times'', 17 May 2006

In May 2006, a police force was formed in Gaza, consisting of thousands of Brigade fighters. It aimed to restore law and order in the city but instead broke out into clashes with Fatah militias. On 10 June 2006, after the Gaza beach blast

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases