OPINION
October 11th, 2023
As the days pass after the horrific slaughter of the Israeli civilians questions are being raised about who was involved and who was behind the grim actions.
In my previous letter, I commented on the possible involvement of Iran and Russia. Since then, I have spoken with my sources and a story has broken in the Daily Express. Although not always the most credible of newspapers, the Express story bears out some of what I was told.
If one looks at the photo below it is noticeable that the person taking the hostage is not of typical Arab appearance. It would appear that he originates from Africa, (and this is a guess) possibly Sudan or Somalia. Some of these nationals have served with the Wagner group in Syria.
(As an aside there were apparently a couple of missiles/mortars launched into Israel from Syria today).
The Express asserted that the Wagner group was involved in training Hamas, and certainly, the incursion into Israel bears all the hallmarks of a typical Wagner operation.
The claims came from Ukraine’s national resistance centre after being passed intelligence by Russian and Belarusian sources.
A spokesman for the centre, established by the Ukrainian army’s special operations forces, said: “Instructors of the Russian internationally recognised criminal organisation Wagner PMC trained militants of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to attack Israel.”
During the summer Wagner fighters billeted in Belarus are understood to have left for Africa. Once there, they were “involved in training and transferring combat experience to Hamas militants”, according to the Ukrainians.
“Key training areas for Hamas militants were assault training and the use of small drones to drop explosive materials,” the spokesman for Ukraine’s National Resistance Centre said. “Only the Russians, among allies of Hamas, have experience in using drones with mechanisms for dropping explosives on enemy equipment.
“This is exactly what the Wagner mercenaries trained Hamas militants to do during exercises in Africa.”
(The caveat is that obviously, this has to be read being aware of the source of the information, although it is similar to my information from my Israeli source).
The Ukrainians said information came from sources in the Belarusian resistance.
Russia’s aim was supposedly to create chaos and detract the West’s attention from the war in Ukraine, forcing its supply of weapons and resources to be redirected to Israel.
The claim that the Wagner Group has been actively involved in training Hamas was also made by Russian anti-Putin channel General SVR, which alleged it was approved by the Kremlin. “Representatives of the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company] and the Redut PMC took part in the preparation of Hamas militants for an attack on Israel, in coordination with the Russian leadership,” the channel said.
Kyiv has also accused Russia of supplying terrorist organisation Hamas with Nato weapons captured in the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian military intelligence – headed by Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov – said: “The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine informs that the Russian GRU [military intelligence] has already transferred captured weapons made in the USA and EU countries to Hamas terrorists. “The next step, according to the Russians’ plan, should be false accusations of the Ukrainian military of selling Western weapons to terrorists on a regular basis.”
Source Daily Express 10th October 2023.
(Recent rumours on social media have accused Ukraine of corruptly selling weapons obtained from the West on the black market.)
It looks as though the possible accord between Saudi Arabia and Israel will hold, although Saudi will have to make appropriate noises to keep the bulk of the Arab world onside. Saudi will not want Iran to gain any advantage from the situation.
It is probable that Israel will start to take out targets (people and facilities) to hamper Iran’s nuclear weapon development. They will also look at taking out senior figures in the Iranian regime. It is also possible that they will take out some of the drone manufacturing facilities, which, as a side effect, would help Ukraine.