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Israeli commandos in Syria exposed ISIS laptop bomb plot

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An Israeli commando mission inside Syria uncovered an ISIS plan to deploy laptop bombs that could pass through airport security undetected.

An exclusive report in Vanity Fair says the mission was launched a year ago. The article says: “Two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters flew low across Jordan and then, staying under the radar, veered north toward the twisting ribbon of shadows that was the Euphrates River. Onboard… were Sayeret Matkal commandos, the Jewish state’s elite counterterrorism force, along with members of the technological unit of the Mossad, its foreign-espionage agency. ”

Israeli intelligence experts told Vanity Fair that “the units came down several miles from their target. Two jeeps bearing Syrian Army markings were unloaded, the men hopped in, and, hearts racing, they drove as if it had been the most natural of patrols into the pre-dawn stillness of an enemy city”. Listening devices were installed and Israel’s elite technology unit, the 8200, monitored the transmissions. According to the article, a few days later, they were able to hear when “an ISIS fighter detailed how to turn a laptop computer into a terror weapon that could pass through airport security and be carried on board a passenger plane. ISIS had obtained a new way to cause airliners to explode suddenly, free-falling from the sky in flames”.

This intelligence was passed to the US President Donald Trump, who then shared it with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to Washington Sergey I Kislyak in an Oval Office meeting in May.

The Israeli security establishment was deeply alarmed when news of Trump’s meeting emerged. An Israeli intelligence officer told Yediot Ahronoth: “There is now a significant risk to sources we have devoted years to acquiring and to [our] work methods… We need to reevaluate whether and which information we share with the Americans.”