Publications on Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict

The essays by INSS researchers compiled in this volume offer initial assessments of various aspects of Operation Pillar of Defense, launched by Israel in November 2012. Part I of the collection focuses primarily on military and strategic issues, including the importance of the civilian front and the new “hero” of the operation, the Iron Dome system. Part II is devoted to the political ramifications of the operation, focusing in particular on the roles played by the United States and the new Egyptian regime, and the...

Revelations about Stuxnet and Flame have provoked a chorus of dire warnings on the dangers of cyber warfare and the need for action. Yet the most troubling question to emerge from these revelations is why, if cyber warfare is such a critical issue, are so many people so badly informed about it? Suggestions that Stuxnet or Flame have increased risk are based on a faulty understanding of how much risk already exists in cyberspace, the already high frequency of state-sponsored malicious cyber action, and the rapid growth in many...

On May 16, 2012, INSS held a political-security simulation at INSS designed to formulate ideas about relations between Israel and Egypt, against the background of a securityrelated incident in the Sinai Peninsula. The incident involved disclosure of a site in the Sinai Peninsula, constructed with Iranian financing and assistance, for manufacture and assembly of long range missiles and rockets and surfaceto-sea missiles. Several teams participated in the simulation in a number of roles, including: an Israeli political and security...

If indeed the world is engaged in a global war on terrorism, what is the optimal way to defend against it? Should the response be focused on defensive aspects or should offensive ones augment defensive measures? Who are the enemies and where is the battle zone? This essay examines these questions from an historical perspective in order to draw conclusions and attempt to formulate some insights about the right strategy and most effective tactics involving technology as a critical component in the response to this type of warfare.

It is an understatement to say that armed conflicts fought in densely populated areas can and do cause tremendous human suffering. Civilians in particular have historically paid a high price in the form of death, injuries, and permanent disabilities. They have also paid indirectly through the effects of widespread damage to their homes, the impact on their livelihoods, and the destruction of the infrastructure that supplies the necessities of life. With modern conflicts increasingly fought in urban areas, civilians are increasingly...

The deadly terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian citizen, is part of a combined, planned, and ongoing terror campaign waged by Iran and Hizbollah in the international arena over the last year against Israeli and Jewish targets. The immediate background is the desire for revenge and the drive to create a balance of terror against Israel in light of what Iran and Hizbollah see as Israel’s campaign against them. Nevertheless, the central question is whether behind this deliberate...

Recent reports of dozens of Kuwaiti jihadists traveling to fight in the Syrian conflict further highlight the stronger foothold radical Islamic groups are gaining in Syria. Since January 2012, Syria has been transformed into a major battleground of the jihad world, with a number of foreign and Syrian jihadist groups surfacing to participate in the conflict. This development not only poses a serious threat to the present Syrian government or any government that may follow, but also threatens the armed opposition in Syria, headed by...

Although for the most part the Arab Spring has not had a major impact on countries that over the past twenty years have experienced extended civil war or deep internal polarization, Yemen is a notable exception. The civil unrest that has gripped the nation since January 2011, inspired by the upheavals elsewhere in the Arab world, has intensified existing trends and accelerated processes liable to lead to state failure. The hope had been that Saleh’s resignation as president would contain the Yemeni revolution and, more importantly,...

The recent threats by Ali Larijani, chairman of the Iranian parliament and a member of the Iranian leader’s innermost circle, that a military attack by the West, headed by the United States, against its Syrian ally would lead to an attack on Israel are another stage in Iran’s efforts to deter the US and Israel from undertaking a military action against it. Although Iran’s actual willingness to come to the help of its allies and protיgיs cannot be assessed, it seems that the key tools available to it are its proxies, especially the...

As the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s killing (May 1, 2012) approached, al-Qaeda commanders in Saudi Arabia planned a terrorist attack that involved downing a passenger plane in the United States. The attack that was foiled was to be launched by a suicide terrorist carrying explosives in his underwear. The attack was a repeat performance – albeit more sophisticated – of a failed attempt in late 2009 to blow up a plane over Detroit. These attempts reflect the Yemenite-Saudi organization’s determination to continue to carry out...

The events in Toulouse shone a spotlight on the threat posed by global jihadism to Europe and on several problems that for some time have been on the French and European Union agenda, first and foremost the difficulties of integrating the Muslim immigrant community and the issue of anti-Semitism. From an analysis of the events in Toulouse – both the practical aspect, manifested in the cold-blooded murder of French soldiers and Jewish citizens, including children, and the ideological aspect, which the murderer took pains to expound...