LOTAR Eilat [Video]

[Moledet]

http://video.msn.co.il/video/default.aspx?g=f2328469-84b7-43c0-ba41-1c5be4cebacb

[TallGuy]

Cool video :D

[Zielony]

thx man :)
cool vid

pozdr

[tenda]

Cool video :D
...x2 ...shalom.. ;)

[Yosy]

Yeah cool video indeed.

[mountainbear]

:D Nice video but I don’t understand Hebrew so what kind of unit is it, SF, anti-terrorist, ...?

[CQB_Operator]

Excellent video Moledet woot woot

[km5]

LOTAR Eilat is a special hostage rescue counter-terror unit, located in the southmost port city of Eilat.

everyone there seems to love their Aimpoints lol.

[fred_engles]

everyone there seems to love their Aimpoints lol.So much so that they don't use them at all.

Nice vid, btw.

[olowy]

Great Video!!

Unit info:
http://www.isayeret.com/services/freecontent/lotareilat.htm

LOTAR Eilat

Overview

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The Israeli city of Eilat is unique: it is the most south located city in Israel and is Israel's primary resort city. The large number of high value tourist oriented targets in the city, and the proximity to the Israeli-Jordanian border, makes the city ****e and vulnerable to terror attacks.

As the city is located remotely from any Israeli Defense Force (IDF) or civilian Counter Terror (CT) unit, the need rose of nearby CT unit. So in 1978 the IDF formed LOTAR Eilat ("Eilat Counter Terror" in Hebrew) - a CT and hostage rescue outfit located in the city. As the chances for a scenario requiring the unit's actual deployment are relatively low, there was no need to form the unit as a mandatory service unit, and it was built as an all reserve one, similar to Unit Alpinistim, the IDF extreme weather SF unit.

Originally, the unit was formed as an Engagement Unit, hence a rapid deployment unit that can provide first response until a better equipped larger Takeover unit will arrive and carry out the hostage rescue raid. However, in 1995, due to the unit's successful track record over the years, it was decided to promote it to the rare Takeover Unit status, together with the IDF two other Takeover Units - Shayetet 13 (the IDF Naval Commando unit) and Sayeret MATKAL (Israel's elite commando unit).

Today, LOTAR Eilat is the only IDF unit which specializes in rescuing hostages. In all other IDF CT capable units, including Sayeret MATKAL and Shayetet 13, CT and hostage rescue are only secondary capabilities. Even in the second all CT IDF unit - Sayeret Duvdevan (the IDF undercover CT unit) - the focus is on undercover CT applications rather then on hostage rescue as in LOTAR Eilat. As such, the unit is considered as the most experienced and the capable IDF hostage rescue unit.

In the entire Israeli SF community, including both civilian and military units, LOTAR Eilat is the second most capable hostage rescue after the fourth Israeli Takeover unit - Unit YAMAM (the Israeli Border Guard elite SWAT type unit). The unit also functions as a Special Forces (SF) commando unit During wartime.

History

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In 1987 the Intifada - the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli regime - broke out in the Territories. In response, the IDF formed two dedicated undercover CT units - Sayeret Duvdevan, which operated in the Judah and Samaria region, and Sayeret Shimshon, which operated in the Gaza Strip region.

LOTAR Eilat worked closely with Sayeret Shimshon and had conducted many successful undercover joint operations. The cooperation between the two units stooped after the 1993-1994 Oslo Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, which was resulted in the IDF retreat from the Gaza Strip and the disbanding of Sayeret Shimshon.

In August 1989 the unit was involved in its first hostage rescue operation. A Jordanian soldier, who crossed the Israeli-Jordanian border, entered Kibbutz Lotan and kidnapped a hostage. A LOTAR Eilat team responded to the incident, and conducted a successful raid on the house, killing the Jordanian soldier and rescuing the hostage unharmed.

In September 1995, an Iranian airliner was kidnapped by an emotionally disturbed individual and landed at the Uvda Air Force Base (AFB) in Israel. Once more, the unit handled the incident successfully and after negotiations the kidnaper had surrendered himself.

The Iranian airliner incident was the IDF trigger to turning the unit into a Takeover Unit, resulting in bigger resources and the authorization to perform independent hostage rescue raids, without the need to wait for a Takeover Unit to arrive.

The unit was involved in another airplane incident in November 2000. A Russian hijacker took over a Dagestan Airlines airplane on route to Moscow, along with its 50 passengers, using a fake bomb. The airliner landed in the Uvda AFB and eventually the kidnaper had surrendered himself. The Dagestan incident was also handled by Unit YAMAM.

Since October 2000, due to the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes, the unit is also deployed in the Territories.


Training


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The unit's operators are reserve personnel who live in the city of Eilat or in the nearby Kibbutzim. Some of them had already undergone a CT course during their mandatory service. However, most of them undergone the CT course upon acceptance to the unit and then received additional inner unit training.

While a reserve unit, the unit's personnel train intensely, almost on a daily basis. A major focus is placed on storming large hotels and this kind of scenario, requiring special expertise, is one of the reasons for the unit's unique Takeover status.

Unlike the IDF CT units, whose personnel serve only three years mandatory service, the operators in LOTAR Eilat serve for many years, much like in the Israeli civilian SF units. The unit is well renown by its snipers, which are considered to be among the finest in the Israeli SF community. In order to become a sniper in the unit, one must first serve few years as a regular assault/entry operator and only then, after the operator demonstrated his skills, he can apply for a sniper position.

The unit trains both independently and with Israel other Takeover units. Since there is an international harbor in the city, the unit also conducts frequent joint training with Shayetet 13. If such a scenario occurs, involving hostage rescue onboard a maritime vessel, the unit will act as an Engagement Unit as Shayetet 13 is the only Israeli unit allow to carry out maritime Takeover raids.

The unit trains closely with Unit YAMAM and share techniques and equipment. The two units focus on joint operations as they will need to work together if a large-scale hostage rescue incident will occur in the future in south of Israel, as they indeed did in the Dagestan Airliner incident.

[Moledet]

:D Nice video but I don’t understand Hebrew so what kind of unit is it, SF, anti-terrorist, ...?
It's a hostage rescue unit made out of reserve soldiers only.

[big80a2]

nice to see that shotgun in action ;)

[mountainbear]

Thanks to the guys who answered me! :D



:D Nice video but I don’t understand Hebrew so what kind of unit is it, SF, anti-terrorist, ...?
It's a hostage rescue unit made out of reserve soldiers only.

I was surprised, a reserve unit for this kind of mission, then I read the article.

While a reserve unit, the unit's personnel train intensely, almost on a daily basis

[Moledet]

Thanks to the guys who answered me! :D



:D Nice video but I don’t understand Hebrew so what kind of unit is it, SF, anti-terrorist, ...?
It's a hostage rescue unit made out of reserve soldiers only.

I was surprised, a reserve unit for this kind of mission, then I read the article.

While a reserve unit, the unit's personnel train intensely, almost on a daily basis
Not accurate, the reporter in the video say they train 100 days a year.
They voluntered to serve in this unit, their every day job is much diffrent, one of them for exaple owns a restaurant.

[mountainbear]

Modelet
It’s great to see that a reserve unit can be very “professional” in its mission! This makes me confident in the possibilities to adapt the Swiss army to the new threats.

[Sirpad]

Modelet
It’s great to see that a reserve unit can be very “professional” in its mission! This makes me confident in the possibilities to adapt the Swiss army to the new threats.
true, but not without a personal price: the article mentions the personal price some members pay for being a part of the unit - some employers do not welcome an employee that may be absent for almost 30% of the time, and unit members either lost jobs or did not get employed for this precise reason.

BTW, it is good to see that some of IDF's most serious SF units are reserve-only (eilat guys, alpine unit, and more) - for a country constantly relliant on reserve forces deployment, it feels good that some of us old geezer actually "own the house" in some fields... p-)

[Zgedi]

Can someone expain me what i have to do for watching this video?besouse this site is in unknow language for me and i dont know what to do.I try to push that big blue play button but nothing happen.Maybe someone have a direct link?

[Moledet]

Can someone expain me what i have to do for watching this video?besouse this site is in unknow language for me and i dont know what to do.I try to push that big blue play button but nothing happen.Maybe someone have a direct link?
Press it once and a wait a while.
If you're using Firefox you can't watch it (it's Microsoft's site), so use IE5+.

[Zgedi]

Thx for help..i'am using firefox and thats a problem ;) ...thx again buddy

[Mark_Aspen]

Arava Highway, my old beat. The Lotan episode was a screwup from the Kibbutz's side. Their armory was inaccessible, the guy in charge of security and the kibbutz secretary were away and there weren't any keys around. Never mind the weapons, all their communications gear was locked up too. Half the kibbutz couldn't speak Hebrew anyway.

The Lotar needed 40 minutes to get there. Achla group of people. One of my kibbutz friend was a machine gunner with them.