Israel Air Strike Kills Hamas Security Chief

There was the news about Al Qaeda terrorist bigwig Abu Musab al-Zarqawi literally going out with a bang, courtesy of two heavy bombs dropped on his “safe house” by U.S. military airplane.

And now there’s there’s this news from Haaretz and AP that proves once and for all that it hasn’t been a banner week for top officials of groups considered terrorist groups:

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) has vowed revenge for an Israel Air Force strike on a Palestinian militants’ training camp in Gaza on Thursday night that killed PRC head Jamal Abu Samhadana.

At least three other PRC operatives were also killed in the attack. Hospital officials said 10 more were wounded.

Abu Samhadana headed the Hamas government’s Interior Ministry security force in the Gaza Strip and was a key player in rocket attacks on Israel and a suspect in the fatal 2003 bombing of a U.S. convoy in the Gaza Strip.

And then there’s this from Reuters:

It was the first time Israel has killed an appointee of the government under Hamas, an Islamist group that took power in March after an election victory over the more moderate Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“Israel knows that Abu Samhadana works in the government and by killing him they are sending a message that all its members, from the prime minister to junior employees, are targets for death,” said cabinet secretary Ghazi Hamad.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the strike, saying it targeted the camp rather than anyone specific. Abu Samhadana, on Israel’s wanted list for his role in a more than 5-year-old Palestinian revolt, had survived previous attempts on his life.

The bottom line is that the bombing deaths of Samhadana and al-Zarqawi show that with the modern, cutting-edge technology the heads of terrorist groups (or enemy military in wars, for that matter) are running out of places to hide. One key critical component is the human intelligence asset on the ground, but with increasingly sophisticated surveillance equipment, satellites, and precision bombing “safe houses” are no longer all that safe.

What options do terrorist bigwigs now have? They are becoming fewer. They can pick hiding places that keep them more isolated. But they have to watch and greatly limit what they say because a big technological ear could be listening. So what should they do– aside from hiring a staff of mimes?

These two events coming so closely together will almost certain lead to some re-thinking on the part of those associated with terrorist groups about the need to turn even more inward, and trust fewer people. The technology is making their lives more difficult — and their life spans shorter.