Yamam

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date=September 2007The Yamam ( _he. ימ"מ), is the acronym for Special Police Unit (יחידת משטרה מיוחדת, "Yeḥidat Mishtara Meyuḥedet"), Israel's elite civilian counter-terrorism unit. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas. Besides military duties, it also performs SWAT duties and undercover police work.

Name and organization

Yamam stands for Special Police Unit. In Israel it is also called Unit for Counter-Terror Warfare (היחידה ללוחמה בטרור). The Yamam answers to the Israel Border Police central command and belongs to the civilian Israel Police forces rather than the military. Its operators and officers are professional policemen on payroll, usually with combat experience from their military service within the Israel Defense Forces. Yamam recruits its members almost exclusively from Israeli special forces units.

Unit Yamam is an integral part of the Israeli Border Guard (Magav,) the name being the acronym for the unit's Hebrew name: Yechida Mishtartit Meyuchedet (=Special Police Unit.) The unit is primarily responsible for civilian hostage rescue within Israel's borders, but from about the mid-1990s it has been used for tasks such as arresting police suspects who have barricaded themselves in and required specialized extraction methods, and in counter-terror operations within the Arab West Bank. The Yamam are schooled in Arabic and dress to assimilate within the Arab population to avoid detection, in order to carry out raids to arrest those suspected of conducting terrorist activities within the Israeli homeland.

Unit Yamam is about 200 strong and comprises a headquarters element, an intelligence section and a small team responsible for the development of new operational techniques and testing new equipment. These central elements apart, the bulk of the unit is divided into a number of sections, each consisting of five teams, each containing operators with a particular specialization, so that the section includes within its numbers all the elements needed for a successful operation: roping team, entry team, sniping team, dog team, EOD team (demolition and bomb disposal). Thus, whereas an IDF special forces operation needs to assemble elements from different specialist units, in Yamam, they are all permanently part of the same unit, living, training and operating together.

Applicants for Yamam must be between 21 and 28 years of age and must have completed their three-year service in the IDF, but no previous police experience is required. Many of those successful in applying are former members of either Sayeret Golani and Sayeret Duvdevan. Training lasts 12 months and is carried out in Magav's own training center, although some use is made of the facilities at the IDF Counter Terror Warfare School (Lotar, Unit 707.) The course is divided into an eight-month general CT training period at the end of which recruits are selected for their specialization and then concentrate for the remaining four months on that specialization. Upon graduation, individuals are posted to fill gaps in the sections. Yamam considers that it has several advantages over the IDF counter-terror units, first, because the men are more mature and spend much longer in the unit than the equivalent military units, and, second, because the units contain a far broader range of ages and experience.

Unit Yamam has its own funds which give it a certain degree of independence in selecting and purchasing weapons. The unit uses the standard M4 assault rifle, but while other Israeli Security Force units use the Sig-Sauer P226, or Beretta M9, Yamam uses the Glock 21 .45ACP which yields improved stopping power. Yamam snipers use the US M24 SWS (sniper weapon system.)

The Yamam is self-dependent, training its own operators in all fields, such as sniping, reconnaissance, dog operating, bomb disposal, etc. As a result, the Yamam has a rapid deployment time and high coordination between various squads (sniping squad, entry team, engagement force, etc.).

The Yamam's primary duties are:
# Hostage rescue.
# Offensive or preemptive operations.
# SWAT duties - handling dangerous criminals.
# Undercover police operations.
# VIP security.

Most of the Yamam's activity is classified, and published Yamam operations are often credited to other units. Nevertheless, the Yamam enjoys a high reputation among SF professionals and the Israeli public.

History

The Yamam was established after the Ma'alot massacre, where a failed operation by military special forces units ended with 21 children murdered before the hostage takers were killed. Since hostage rescue in friendly territory is different from that in hostile areas, it was decided to establish an elite civilian force, which develops and practices a special CQB (Close Quarters Battles) doctrine for "counter-terrorism" operations in friendly territory and hostage rescue. In late 1974, the Yamam was established and has since fallen under the direct jurisdiction of the Israel Border Police — the combat arm of the Israel Police.

Operational record 1974 - September 2000

The Yamam has carried out many paramilitary operations. Some of the missions known to the public prior to the al-Aqsa Intifada are listed below:

* In March 1988, the Yamam was called into action after a group of three Palestinians hijacked a bus full of women returning from work at the Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona, in an incident known as the "Mothers Bus". The Yamam struck, killing all three hijackers, but not managing to prevent three Israeli passengers from being killed.
* On March 3, 2000, the Yamam captured an armed group hidden in the Israeli-Arab town of Taibe with the aid of Sayeret Duvdevan and an IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. In the end of the raid, one man was arrested and four were killed. [http://www.isayeret.com/content/operations/taibeh.htm] ("password-restricted link")

Equipment

* Glock-17
* Glock-19

ee also

*Israeli Special Forces:
** Sayeret
** Sayeret Matkal
** Shayetet 13

*Israeli security forces:
** Israel Border Police
** Israeli police
** Israeli Defence Forces
** Shin Bet

*Similar foreign counter terrorism units:
** List of Special Response Units

[The Illustrated Directory of Special Forces By Ray Bonds]

References