‘Intelligence Lagging on Whereabouts’

Report: U.S. Desperately Searching for Hamas Chief

Date: 18 May 2024 - 22:25

News ID: ۱۲۷۴۴۲

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – Washington is focused on tracking down Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar amid a new push by the White House to help the Zionist regime declare “total victory” so it can bring an end to the war on the besieged Gaza Strip, U.S. officials told Middle East Eye.
Current and former U.S. officials, who spoke with MEE on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the mission, said the U.S. was expanding its search efforts across the region, after believing the 61-year-old was hiding in tunnels deep below Gaza.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, told MEE that the Joe Biden administration is now exploring possibilities that Sinwar fled to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, and from there may have even escaped to either Lebanon or Syria. The current and former officials did not reference any specific intelligence but stated one factor driving the debate was that U.S. intelligence was lagging on Sinwar’s last whereabouts. According to the officials, the Biden administration is roughly one month behind on tracking Sinwar’s last known location, which was within the blockaded territory. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official who also advised four U.S. presidents on national security, told MEE that the lack of clarity surrounding Sinwar’s last location was “pretty bad”.
When asked about the timeframe, he said, “One month means you aren’t even close to real-time information. “Last month, a Hamas official noted that Sinwar had visited combat zones above ground and had held deliberations with the group’s leadership abroad.
Speaking to the pan-Arab news outlet Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed (or The New Arab), the Hamas official added Sinwar was not always staying in tunnels, as claimed by Israel, but also performing his duties in the field. Tracking Sinwar has taken on a new urgency within the U.S. intelligence community because the Biden administration believes it could help pressure Israel to end the war by declaring victory, the officials stated.