The

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i Combat Intelligence Collection Corps (previously known as ''Field Intelligence Corps'') is the newest of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

GOC Army Headquarters The GOC Army Headquarters (, ''Mifkedet Zro'a HaYabasha'', abbreviated Mazi), is a multi-corps command headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Israel Defense Forces. The current size of the Israeli Ground Forces is estimated at 126,000 active ...

' five corps, created in April 2000 and tasked with gathering military intelligence in combat areas to support air and ground combat units to be more effective in their operations. It is responsible for intelligence units from the battalion level and up to the entire force. Due to the need for collecting combat intelligence and in maintaining observation networks, it is in the midst of expansion.

Units

The corps consists of the following

units Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

: *

414th Field Intelligence Battalion "Nesher" (Assigned to the 143rd Division – Gaza–Israel barrier) * Gdud Ait

595th Field Intelligence Battalion "Ayit" - including 4 “Yachmam” special operations squads (Assigned to the 210th Division – Israel Syria border) * Nizan temp

636th Field Intelligence Battalion "Nitzan" (Assigned to the 877th Division –

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

) *

727th Field Intelligence Battalion "Eitam" (Assigned to the 80th Division – Egypt–Israel barrier) * Shahaf

869th Field Intelligence Battalion "Shahaf" (Assigned to the 91st Division – Israel Lebanon border) * Field Intelligence School, also known as Center for Reconnaissance and Intelligence. * Unit Command, in the IDF Central Command in HaKirya, Tel-Aviv Each battalion includes foot soldiers, and female observers that control stationary cameras from a control center.

Training

Two weeks after drafting, training commanders decide where each soldier will serve (which battalion) based upon the psychological, physical, and motivational state of the soldier. The training base is in the southern region of the

Negev Desert The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

, close to

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

. The requirements to join as a field recon specialist is a medical profile of 82 or 97, and intelligence score of at least 40. Training pipeline: * Basic Training 16 weeks (Rifleman 05) – Combat Intelligence School * Advanced Training 20 weeks (Scout 07) – Combat Intelligence School * Unit Training (here each unit has its own training that takes around 2 months) – Northern, Southern and Central command

History

Israel has a long history of intelligence units and operations, dating back to the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

's "German Platoon". After the creation of the IDF, field intelligence units were formed on an ''ad-hoc'' basis, by the Regional Commands. In 1993, the first dedicated field intelligence unit meant for operating in any front, the ''Yahmam'' (abbreviation for "Target Field Intelligence", also known as the Nitzan Commando), was created. The unit was designated to provide intelligence in real time and sighting enemy targets. It was appended to the

and its soldiers wore black berets, even though they were under the direct command of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

. During the 1982–2000 South Lebanon Conflict, it operated as an elite outfit tasked with collecting combat intelligence. After the February 4, 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster, in which the unit lost two men out of a total of 73 killed, the

Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

instructed to reveal their names, and consequently, the unit's existence was revealed to the public. The unit was created as a corps in April 2000, under Amnon Sufrin. In late 2008, the GOC Army Headquarters decided to rename it to the "Combat Intelligence Collection Corps" from "Field Intelligence Corps", to emphasize its combat nature and to dissociate itself from the military intelligence directorate to which it was previously professionally subordinate to. The name was changed in November 2009. The corps' beret color was changed from dark green, which is associated with military intelligence, to yellow. On October 7th, 2023 27 female members of Unit 414 of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps were killed or captured by Hamas during the Nahal Oz attack. Racoon001

Chief combat intelligence Officer

The chief combat intelligence officer is a brigadier general appointed by the head of the GOC Army Headquarters.

References

External links

Combat Intelligence Collection Corps
at the

website {{Authority control Israeli intelligence agencies Corps of Israel Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) Military units and formations established in 2000