Israeli security forces again succeeded in thwarting a plot against its citizens. On Monday, they announced the arrest of a Hamas terror ring.
Captured Hamas terrorists Salam (left) and Saheib Saltan. (Photos: Shin Bet)
Security forces were successful in thwarting a series of planned terror attacks by a Hamas cell, the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) announced on Monday.
The Shin Bet, in a joint operation with the IDF, arrested over the course of January 11 members of a Hamas terror cell operating out of Hebron. The terrorists were planning several attacks, including suicide bombings, and had even tried to carry through with one of them.
Weapons and other terror-related equipment were apprehended in the raids.
Sahaib Mamoon Saltan, 20, commanded the cell together with his cousin, Salam Abbas Saltan, 28, who has already served time in an Israeli prison for security-related offenses.
Both admitted during subsequent questioning that in December 2014, they tried to commit a terror attack against the Jewish community of Hebron. Their plan was to chase away IDF forces by throwing rocks and then to set off a large and powerful explosive device. The attack failed due to a technical issue, and the bomb did not explode.
The terrorists, hoping to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians in Jerusalem and the Hebron area, also managed to collect intelligence.
The Shin Bet spokesman stressed that this revelation underscores the threat posed by Hamas in Hebron, and especially by terrorists who had served time in Israeli prisons and were then released.
String of Shin Bet Successes
The Shin Bet was recently successful in thwarting several massive terror attacks planned by Hamas and ISIS.
In January, the Shin Bet revealed that it had captured a terror cell affiliated with the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) terror organization.
Weapons and equipment apprehended in the raids. (Photo: Shin Bet)
Israeli security forces exposed a massive Hamas terrorist plot and the taking down of the terror ring, a security official announced late November. Some 30 terrorists were arrested, including two Jordanians and one Kuwaiti national.
The terror network intended to target Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium and its light rail system. Both attacks, if executed, would have caused massive casualties. The ring had also planned further infiltrations, kidnappings and car bombs.
Earlier in November, the Shin Bet exposed a Hamas plot to assassinate Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and commit terror attacks against Israeli targets in Judea and Samaria.
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News