How Open-Source Intelligence Is Defeating Hamas and Hezbollah

As hostilities and Iranian-funded terrorism against the state of Israel continue, Israeli Defense Forces have resorted to using intercepted propaganda, known as open source intelligence, from the radical Islamic regime in Iran and its proxy terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to preempt future terror attacks.

The use of open-source intelligence, or intercepted existing intelligence, has been utilized by the Israeli military since the start of Israel’s defense campaign on Oct. 8, 2023 as a strategy to minimize civilian casualties, protect their frontline forces, and further familiarize themselves of enemy behavior.

“We’re not here to occupy, we’re not here to expand blah blah blah….,” IDF commander and intelligence officer Avraham Levine told the Daily Signal. “This is the only thing we can do to prevent the next stage of terrorist from coming back”

With a heavy reliance on “satellites” instead of “human assets,” we “have videos of the underground missiles in Iran,” Levine continued.

Levine provided the Daily Signal with real world examples, including intercepted recruiting videos from the militant groups.

The video shows the Islamic fighters posting videos of operations that decimated Israeli tanks and soldiers with several rocket propelled grenades, showing possible recruits that they would be joining a winning force.

The word “victory” was chanted several times throughout the video. 

Other examples the intelligence officer provided included an intercepted Hamas video, which showed a fighter infiltrating an Israeli camp using a tunnel, so that he can document and report the personnel, location and utilities present at the camp.

Because of the forces’ real time interception of the video, they were able to prepare for the incoming attack. The forces first identified the exact camp that had been infiltrated. They then moved to evacuate vulnerable people in and near the camp previously infiltrated Hamas forces.

Intel led the forces to believe the Islamic militant will return to the exit at dawn. They were right.

At dawn, Israeli forces were then able to anticipate the attack in advance. Instead of evacuating the area along with the civilians they evacuated, the forces changed position and focused their aim on the newly identified tunnel.

Once the militants appeared in the tunnel exit, they had successfully launched two explosive devices at the camp from the tunnel exit successfully identified by the Israeli military.

One of the devices exploded immediately, while the other followed 30 minutes later.

Levine told the Daily Signal that he believes the second explosion came 30 minutes after the first as an attempt to cause harm to first responders who were going to treat victims from the first explosion. Fortunately, no one was killed, and the militant and another member of his battalion were eliminated by Israeli forces after emerging from the tunnel and launching the explosives.

However, despite the threat being neutralized, the video still circulated in Palestinian media as a recruitment tactic.

Levine described the video, which contained heroic militant music in the background, as an opportunity for a Hamas fighter to show possible recruits the stealth and agility of a militant to infiltrate enemy lines and create a path to victory.

Levine added that many more propaganda videos, phone calls, attack blueprints, calls for jihad, encrypted Islamic prayer calls, and recruitment videos have been intercepted by Israeli officers and used to better understand, prepare, anticipate, and study the Islamic “resistance” to the Western world, giving them a “costly disadvantage” in the war.