Naeem Ashraf Mushtaha

 ‘Bagdad’s Sniper’ was the name that terrified the soldiers of the US army in general and the Marines in particular after one year of invading Bagdad, the capital of Iraq. This sniper was given the name ‘Juba’ – which means the path to death. Perhaps a lot have heard of him, but they do not know who he is or how he thinks. Is he a takfiri, Sunni or Shia? Or is he mafia? These questions are proposed and the answers may seem conflicting.

Juba’s skill in sniping comes in line with the late president Saddam Hussein’s interest in training his soldiers on this skill with the purpose of making them professional snipers. Hussein strongly believed that snipers are the cornerstone of all battles, no matter how bloody or fierce. The strange thing, however, is that the proud American army of its most powerful intelligence agency (the CIA) could not identify the identity of the Iraqi sniper who took out 645 American soldiers, of low and high positions. In fact, they set a $5000 reward for information that could lead to his capture dead or alive. Refusing to comply, Juba announced double the reward for every combat soldier who takes his head out of his military vehicle!

For an Arab soldier, whose military trainings are usually mocked at, to call for such a challenge was perceived by many as unprecedented especially that the US army is considered on top in number and armory. The answer to the questions proposed by everyone is that Juba is a Sunni Iraqi Arab military who worked for the Iraqi army in the sniper unit. He left to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet forces, and soon returned to his country and was promoted officer in the Iraqi Republican Guard. He then joined the Iraqi Islamic army after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the USA’s occupation of Bagdad in 2003.

Juba started fighting the American army and was appointed to train the fighters on sniping before he started executing his operations using Dragunov sniper rifle. The US continued its investigations and search for the sniper’s identity, but it failed. His identity was discovered by the Russian intelligence. The sniper is Azzam Al-Enzi, also known as Abu Saleh. However, the cause of his death was never officially announced.

Similar to Bagdad’s Sniper ‘Juba’, Al-Qassam, which is the key player in the Palestinian resistance, gave the name ‘vehicles’ sniper’ to one of its members who executed several distinguished operations that took out many of the occupation’s soldiers. The sniper did not reveal the number of soldiers he sniped, but the Palestinian resistance’ military media filmed the enemy’s losses. The Al-Qassam sniper did not target combat soldiers only, he sniped the vehicles hundreds of meters away during military escalations between the occupation’s forces and the Palestinian resistance. One of his most prominent operations was targeting a troop carrier that was moving inside the occupied lands near a civil train that belongs to the occupation at the borders with the Gaza Strip.

Although Al-Qassam Brigades revealed details about the executed operations, the ‘invincible army’ with its military and intelligence power continue to circulate such myth. The occupation even proudly repeats what PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel has power everywhere it wishes”. However, this did not apply to the Palestinian resistance fighters who now have the say in their conflicts with the Zionist occupation forces. The resistance now decides who will sleep and who will wake up inside the occupied lands. This only occurs at the signal of the General Commander Mohammed Al-Deif who gives the signal to the Vehicles’ Sniper – here the Israeli community asks a question whose answer they truly fear.

“For how long will the Vehicles Snipers be free to pull the trigger whenever and however he likes threatening the lives of the settlers?” The answer lies in how responsive the occupation’s government is to the Palestinian resistance’ demands in Gaza – or else, the sniper will pull the trigger and burn everything. The coming days will witness a new transformation in the rules of engagement between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation. However, these rules will not be like what Netanyahu wants, but how the Palestinian resistance does. This is what some military analysts who work for the occupation said during the 2014 aggression, “Hamas decides when we sleep, when we get up, when we go to work and when we return. We no longer have a say in this”.

This, of course, reflects how powerful the Palestinian resistance is and how fear has become mutual. Six years after the aggression in 2014 one but wonders how the resistance’ potentials have developed. The resistance will be well-prepared and with high military readiness to cause the Israeli occupation’s forces huge losses. As a result, the forces are hesitant to launch an aggression on Gaza. The aggression is happening but it will be within the frame the resistance wants not the frame the occupation desires as we mentioned earlier.

Yoni Ben-Menachem stated that Hamas had threatened to target the power plan in Ashkelon if the power plant in Gaza is not provided with fuel. Such threat puts the power plant in Ashkelon in the Vehicles Sniper’s list of targets. Therefore, the Israeli enemy will have to make new calculations for dealing with the Palestinian resistance.

Launching the burning balloons gradually and systematically as the Israeli raids are fired at similar range shows that the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation do not want to reach a no-return point and trigger an escalation. They both aspire to reach a solution that prolongs the truce, especially after the common ground that encompasses the demands which do not affect the Israeli government.

Finally, the Palestinian resistance will not back down from giving the Vehicles Sniper orders if the agreements are breached or the demands that the Palestinian resistance requested to improve the economic situation are not met.