DEBKAfile - Terrorists Lose Rantisi, But Learn to Beat Border Detectors Faced with these obstacles, the Hizballah and Al Qaeda tried moving the venue of their joint chemical mega-strike to Amman. They prepared three bomb vehicles packed with poison gas canisters. The gas was to be released by massive explosions. The element of Palestinian revenge for Yassin’s death was embodied in the attachment to the seven-man terrorist team of Azmi Jayoussi from the West Bank town of Jenin.
The entire team has been rounded up, but for Jayoussi, who has so far eluded the long arm of Jordanian security. He is the first Palestinian known to have been integrated in an Al Qaeda hit group. Had the calamitous attack come off, Hamas would have hailed Jayoussi as their dead leader’s great avenger and living proof that their organization’s reach extends beyond the narrow limits of the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian intelligence director Lt.-Gen Saad Kheir may have been exaggerating the potential death toll of 20,000 from this attack, but even one quarter of that number would have outstripped the total of Americans killed on 9/11. Since the death vehicles crossed from Syria into Jordan already rigged for action, there can be no doubt that Syrian president Bashar Assad and the head of his security bodies knew what was going on and may even have abetted in the plot.
After it was foiled, Jordan’s King Abdullah II in telephone calls made his certainty on this point known to President W. Bush, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and finally told Assad he knew what he was up to.
It is no coincidence that the March 17 attack on Israel’s Mediterranean port at Ashdod like the foiled Amman mega-strike was orchestrated from Damascus. DEBKAfile’s terror experts have become convinced that the mega-strike hanging over Israel’s head may indeed emanate from the Syrian capital rather than the Gaza Strip.
A second common factor is noted by our analysts between the foiled al Qaeda-Hizballah attack in Amman and the most recent terrorist attacks against Israel: a dangerous gap in anti-terror defenses, which has been heavily overshadowed by the precision of the strikes that wiped out two Hamas leaders. What it means is that the Hizballah, al Qaeda and the Palestinians have learned how to smuggle explosive devices and war materials undetected through well-secured crossing points and borders.
>>> The disposal of a terrorist mastermind such as Rantisi, however important for stemming Palestinian violence, could pale compared with the terrorists’ success in bringing the tools of their deadly trade through an unidentified hole in the standard inspection systems that guard ports the world over. The terrorists have clearly developed some way of blinding the detectors, maybe new types of explosive components, metals or detonators.
The sensitivity of regulation walk-through detectors is adjusted to avoid setting off false alarms for small personal objects like keys, coins, belt buckles, small ornaments or pacemakers. They also feature high-speed detection of objects moving up to 15 meters per second. The Karni and Erez crossings are also equipped with an X-Ray scanner. Explosives sniffers are present. Yet individuals and vehicles loaded with explosive devices were able to pass through this battery of gadgets in Gaza, Israel and Jordan without being stopped.
So why not international airports?
The entire team has been rounded up, but for Jayoussi, who has so far eluded the long arm of Jordanian security. He is the first Palestinian known to have been integrated in an Al Qaeda hit group. Had the calamitous attack come off, Hamas would have hailed Jayoussi as their dead leader’s great avenger and living proof that their organization’s reach extends beyond the narrow limits of the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian intelligence director Lt.-Gen Saad Kheir may have been exaggerating the potential death toll of 20,000 from this attack, but even one quarter of that number would have outstripped the total of Americans killed on 9/11. Since the death vehicles crossed from Syria into Jordan already rigged for action, there can be no doubt that Syrian president Bashar Assad and the head of his security bodies knew what was going on and may even have abetted in the plot.
After it was foiled, Jordan’s King Abdullah II in telephone calls made his certainty on this point known to President W. Bush, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and finally told Assad he knew what he was up to.
It is no coincidence that the March 17 attack on Israel’s Mediterranean port at Ashdod like the foiled Amman mega-strike was orchestrated from Damascus. DEBKAfile’s terror experts have become convinced that the mega-strike hanging over Israel’s head may indeed emanate from the Syrian capital rather than the Gaza Strip.
A second common factor is noted by our analysts between the foiled al Qaeda-Hizballah attack in Amman and the most recent terrorist attacks against Israel: a dangerous gap in anti-terror defenses, which has been heavily overshadowed by the precision of the strikes that wiped out two Hamas leaders. What it means is that the Hizballah, al Qaeda and the Palestinians have learned how to smuggle explosive devices and war materials undetected through well-secured crossing points and borders.
>>> The disposal of a terrorist mastermind such as Rantisi, however important for stemming Palestinian violence, could pale compared with the terrorists’ success in bringing the tools of their deadly trade through an unidentified hole in the standard inspection systems that guard ports the world over. The terrorists have clearly developed some way of blinding the detectors, maybe new types of explosive components, metals or detonators.
The sensitivity of regulation walk-through detectors is adjusted to avoid setting off false alarms for small personal objects like keys, coins, belt buckles, small ornaments or pacemakers. They also feature high-speed detection of objects moving up to 15 meters per second. The Karni and Erez crossings are also equipped with an X-Ray scanner. Explosives sniffers are present. Yet individuals and vehicles loaded with explosive devices were able to pass through this battery of gadgets in Gaza, Israel and Jordan without being stopped.
So why not international airports?
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