One of the fallen IDF soldiers whose name was published Saturday night is Staff Sgt. (res.) Yosef Avner Doran, a combat soldier in the operational mobility unit. The IDF Spokesperson's announcement focuses attention for a moment on one of the most secret units, whose name rarely reaches the media.
Sergeant Major Yosef Avner Doron, who fell in the Gaza Strip, photo: IDF Spokesperson
The IDF's Operational Mobility Unit was established in 2005 by the Ground Forces, with the goal of creating a body that would serve as a source of knowledge in the field of operational mobility and ongoing security, and would train fighters and special units as tactical mobility personnel.
It includes a number of companies – the Routine Security Unit trains thousands of drivers who operate regularly in the various sectors, the Operational Driving Company and the Training Panel Company.
We decided to expand a bit on the unit and its activities on the various battlefields.
In this respect, the BLM is actually a unit that focuses on stealthy off-road driving capabilities in a long list of different driving methods. This driving is completely silent and is done without lighting, relying on special night vision devices. This is when the routes are extremely difficult and include traffic alongside cliffs and other areas that are considered impassable to many vehicles.
The unit's motto in relation to this type of activity is "to see and not to be seen, to hear without being heard."
IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, photo: IDF Spokesperson
This special capability of the unit enables it to lead and carry out operations deep in enemy territory, far from the borders of the state. This complex activity also requires that all the unit's fighters be at the highest level of soldiers. That is why at the beginning the fighters who came to it were combat soldiers with experience in the flotilla, the General Staff unit and the IDF's many other secret units.
Over time, a unique training track was set for the unit, with the fighters who arrive at it passing through the path of a fighter in a Maglan, Egoz or a paratrooper reconnaissance. These fighters undergo long and special courses in off-road driving in various descriptions and on different tools, until they reach movement abilities that are hardly noticeable in the field.
This level enabled the unit to carry out, for example, complex rescues of the bodies of fallen soldiers, such as during the Second Lebanon War martyrs whose bodies were feared to be abducted by the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Another covert activity of the IICC during that war was to reach a remote and abandoned bunker belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in order to collect the vast amount of information there.
Reaching the site was very dangerous due to the ambushes of the terrorists. Despite the pitfalls, the force managed to reach the bunker undetected, thus obtaining a great deal of intelligence information and also getting its hands on the most advanced Kornet missile available at the time. A missile that was considered the threat of armored soldiers in the West.
These activities of the unit are one of the few publications in the NSC media. This fact stems from the great secrecy in which the unit operates, in cooperation with the other special forces of the IDF and the Israel Security Agency, often in arenas significantly distant from the state border.
IDF activity in Khan Yunis, photo: IDF Spokesperson
In fact, in terms of information about it, it was transparent and completely unknown when it was only revealed in 2009 for the first time.
Either way, the capabilities of the NGO explain why a significant portion of the officers and fighters who left the unit serve in key positions in other special units in the army. Like other special units in the IDF and the defense establishment, the unit is open to recruitment of female fighters as well.
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