In the narrow confines of the extensive 500 km labyrinthine tunnel network underneath Gaza and elsewhere in the ravaged and war-scarred territories bordering Israel, a deadly no-holds-barred hunt by the world’s mightiest powers is being waged to nab Yahya Sinwar, also known as Abu Ibrahim, the 62-year old leader of the Hamas.
Israel’s Shin Bet, the internal security wing, with active CIA help, has set up a separate unit dedicated only to tracking Sinwar. The Americans have also provided Israel with ground-penetrating radars to scan the tunnel network for Sinwar’s whereabouts.
Sinwar, the main plotter of the October 7 attacks, still remains at large despite some really close calls. Although a notch below Ismail Haniyeh in the Hamas organisation, it had been Sinwar who is considered the real boss of Hamas. After Haniyeh was assassinated on July 30 in Tehran in a targeted killing, Sinwar’s position got further cemented as the Hamas chief.
Till now, more than 40,000 Palestinians are believed to have been killed in Israel’s offensive operations while the October 7 attack by Hamas saw about 1,200 Israelis being killed and about 240 taken as hostages.
At this point of time, Sinwar, on the Hamas side and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Israeli side, remain the veritable obstacles to peace in West Asia.
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Sinwar, because of his non-compromising ideology, and Netanyahu because of domestic political dynamics as an end to the ongoing war will also signal the end of the Israeli PM’s political career except for the saving grace of having won the war that could well be symbolised by Sinwar’s elimination. That is why an all-out hunt has been mounted to nab the Hamas leader.
How has Sinwar managed to evade detection so far
What has helped Sinwar evade detection till now is discarding electronic modes of communication like mobile phones and satellite phones and reverting to primitive modes of communication through human couriers and being in contact with only his closest circle of confidantes.
This was the mode of communication that helped Al Qaida’s Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar stay a step ahead of US surveillance for years despite using the best detection techniques available including satellites.
That the US with the world’s most sophisticated intelligence and surveillance tools and techniques and Israel’s robust security network has failed to nab Sinwar more than ten months after the 7/10 Hamas attack across Gaza is a commentary on the Hamas top boss’s guerilla capabilities and survival techniques. How he manages to actively lead and direct Hamas in its military campaign is a source of mystery to his hunters.
