JERUSALEM, 2 December 2005 — Dozens of former Israeli commandos have been training Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq, supplying them with equipment worth millions of dollars, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday.
Over the past 18 months, these ex-commandos, who were sent to Iraq by several Israeli corporations including Motorola Israel, have been training special security units as part of a program organized by the Kurdish authorities, the top-selling Yediot Ahronot daily said.
They have also been involved in the secret construction of a major airport near the northern town of Arbil, known as “Hawler International.”
Operating from a secret desert stronghold dubbed Code Z, these former Israeli soldiers, all of whom have elite-unit experience, have been training the Kurds in weapons, self-defense and anti-terror techniques, the paper said.
As part of the program, the Israeli firms have supplied the Kurds with tons of Israeli-manufactured equipment, including dozens of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (AVTs), sniffer dogs, devices for upgrading Kalashnikov rifles, flack jackets, uniforms and helmets.
The Israelis entered Iraq through its northern border with Turkey posing as construction engineers and agricultural experts, the paper said.
A shroud of secrecy has been imposed on the project for fear the Israelis could be targeted by Iraqi militant groups and either kidnapped or killed.
Speculation that Israeli agents have been operating in Iraq’s Kurdish areas has been rife for over a year, but has never been confirmed.
Aside from Motorola Israel, the report also named Magal Security Systems as being involved in the Kurdish training program. There was no immediate comment from either company on the report.
Insurgents yesterday launched a brief assault west of Baghdad, firing mortar rounds and rockets at a US base and local government buildings.
Residents said heavily armed men wearing masks attacked a US garrison in the center of Ramadi, a rebellious city 110 km west of Baghdad, and fired on nearby council offices before seizing several streets.
Leaflets were distributed saying Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, was taking control and promising that “Iraq will be a graveyard for the Americans and their allies.” But after a couple of hours most of the militants dispersed and the city returned to relative calm.
The US military, which together with Iraqi forces launched a new operation in the area round Ramadi on Wednesday, played down the assault. “Reports of insurgents taking control of Ramadi are completely unsubstantiated,” Marines Capt. Patrick Kerr said in an e-mailed statement. “There have been a few sporadic small-arms engagements, but nothing out of the ordinary.”
In Baghdad, gunmen wounded an adviser to Iraq’s defense minister and killed one of his bodyguards in an attack on his convoy, police said. Police sources said the adviser, Saad Al-Obeidi, and two other guards were wounded.
