The scope of the shock wave of the Hamas attack on Israel is, for the moment, “unpredictable,” according to sources at the Department of Homeland Security. But the possible consequences of the maximum tension in the Middle East have set off alarm bells in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Interior, which have been acting in a coordinated manner for a week in the face of an "uncertain challenge." Outside national borders, the priority is to protect Spaniards abroad, whether they are soldiers in Lebanon or civilians living in the Gaza Strip. In national territory, police prevention and protection must be reinforced against possible terrorist attacks.
For the interests of Spain, the situation is “really complicated”, according to military sources, in Lebanon. There, there are about 600 Spanish blue helmets from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Finul), in the midst of the clashes that are taking place between Israel and Hezbollah. The head of the international mission is a Spaniard, General Aroldo Lázaro. “We hope they do not have to go to the shelters,” the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, warned premonitoryly when last Thursday, on the occasion of October Twelfth, she addressed the Spanish contingent in Lebanese territory.
For the moment, the detachment continues with its patrol work – in a peace mission. Just this week, the director of the Department of Homeland Security, General Miguel Ángel Ballesteros, has warned of the situation of the armored vehicles (BMR) used for this patrol. “When they put an explosive on them [...] the BMR can't handle it and there have been deaths [...] a more modern vehicle saves lives.”
Aside from the work under the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah, today no one is able to affirm that the Spanish mission will continue in the medium future. In fact, from the Operations Command, the same sources explain, there are already various plans on the table as “possible responses” to situations that could arise if the conflict continues to escalate. In other words, withdrawal or evacuation are not scenarios to be ruled out.
After the evacuation this week of 429 people – 334 Spaniards – on two military planes from Tel Aviv airport, efforts are now focused on trying to remove from the Gaza Strip the compatriots who remain trapped there after the Israeli army has fenced the area. According to sources from the Ministry of Defense, the list of Spaniards in Gaza exceeds one hundred. This is a very volatile number, which can increase by the hour. However, the repatriation mission, given the situation, “is now unfeasible,” they regret from Defense. “At this time it is not possible,” they add from Foreign Affairs.
The highest representative of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, is coordinating with his European counterparts the possible operation of the hundred Spaniards in Gaza, who would have the means of the Air Force at their disposal. The armed forces attest to experience in this type of evacuations under highly hostile environments such as in Afghanistan or Sudan.
One of those hundred “affected” citizens in Gaza is the Basque Iván Illarramendi, 46 years old, a native of Zarautz (Gipuzkoa), who lived in an agricultural cooperative located a few kilometers from the Gaza border. The discretion with which the Government is managing this matter is maximum, since the main hypothesis that will be lowered is that of kidnapping at the hands of Hamas militiamen. It is the theory with which they also worked regarding the unknown whereabouts of the young Maya Villalobo, who was finally found dead.
In national territory, the State Security Forces and Bodies have received orders to reinforce security in the meeting spaces of the Jewish community, given the possibility of being the target of an attack, after one of the Hamas ideologues called for the “global jihad”. According to police sources, the Interior has given orders to place static security – 24-hour surveillance – in Jewish institutions. This is confirmed by the federation of Jewish communities, from where they maintain “fluid communication” with the Interior and Exterior, as events progress.
Outside the Jewish community, agents of the anti-terrorist fight advance that the possibility of a jihadist attack as encouraged by Hamas is “reduced.” Although the nature of this type of attacks, generally carried out by lone wolves that are very difficult to detect on police radars, means that all efforts focus on prevention.
From the ministry headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska they admit that raising the level of terrorist threat is not on the study table “at this time”, which has been in phase four – out of five – since 2015, when an assessment report of the threat advised its increase after the attacks in France, Tunisia, Kuwait and Somalia. Increasing it depends on Interior
