Former head of IDF says that Israel carried out “extensive attack” against ISIS terror group on foreign soil, killing hundreds of operatives.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
The Israeli air force launched a precision bombing campaign against the ISIS terror organization in 2015, killing hundreds of the group’s members, a former IDF chief of staff revealed on Sunday.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), former IDF head and current lawmaker for the National Unity party Gadi Eisenkot said that Israel executed a “very extensive attack” against the terror group and “hit many ISIS operatives.”
Though Eisenkot did not state in which countries the attack took place, it likely occurred in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria or Iraq.
“The campaign against ISIS was intensive and far beyond that of any other country,” Eisenkot said, adding that it garnered “results that, in some places, went beyond all imagination in terms of the types of operations and attacks carried out. Some of the actions went under the radar.”
Eisenkot stressed that the offensive was a testament to the power of the Israeli military and had made a lasting impression upon world superpowers.
“There aren’t many countries in the world that know how to identify targets the size of a postage stamp and insert a missile into a target within a radius of 1,000 kilometers around Israel,” he said.
“Our enemies saw it, the Russians saw it, the Americans saw it. Those who know best how much the IDF operated throughout the Middle East are the ISIS operatives because they paid the price of the hundreds of casualties, injuries and damages, and they understood who knew how to carry out these operations.”
The attack was a collaborative effort that involved various branches of Israel’s armed forces, Eisenkot said.
“[Many parts of the] army were involved in this campaign: Military Intelligence, Air Force, special units, foreign relations,” he added.