On 29th December, 2020, all of the Palestinian armed resistance factions in Gaza organized and participated in joint maneuvers under the name of “The Tough Corner”, the reason behind that name is the message they wanted to send: (‘Our Unity Is Our Tough Corner’). Also the date was chosen to correspond with the 12th anniversary of the Gaza War that took place in 2008/2009.
The major factions that participated were the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya Al-Quds, Saladin Brigades, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Public Liberation Front and others. All the branches of the factions appeared in the maneuvers, such as Elite Units, Tunnel Units, Air-Defense Units, Anti-Armor Units, Naval Commandos along with their UAVs.
Though Tough Corner represented the Palestinian forces’ first ever joint maneuvers, they have carried out a number of joint operations together in the past. Some of these were re-enacted during the exercises, which we will spot the light on in this article.
Fig.1.1. Three Palestinian combatants with 7.62×39mm AK-103-patterned self-loading rifles during the exercises, yellow banner of Fatah, green is of Hamas while the black one is of Al-Mujahideen Brigades. (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Considering that all the participants from the various factions wore their own banners, all of them also wore the Palestinian flag patch declaring that these maneuvers are the core of building a national Palestinian army regardless of differences in their ideologies, for example: Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas are nationalist Islamist movement, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah are plain nationalists while the PLF are socialists and Al-Mujahideen Brigades are simply Islamists.
Fig.1.2. Launching local-made M-75 missile towards the sea from an also locally made Multiple Rocket Launcher (M refers to one of their late leaders Dr. Ibrahim Al-Maqadmeh and 75 refers to the missile range which is 75 km) (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
The artillery units fired a number of underground locally-made missiles towards the sea, some observers and journalists claim that this is a demonstration of power but additionally it is a test of recent improvements made to enhance their performance with changes to their aerodynamics (straight launching without tumbling caused by the angles which fins are welded) and the rocket motor’s burning rate, also measuring the missiles’ ranges since launching them to the sea won’t start a war unlike launching them on Israeli territories which will be immediately answered by Israeli air and artillery strikes.
Fig.1.3. Dummy Merkava tanks used for training. Note the M4-patterned rifles or facsimiles on the ground.(Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Several dummy tanks and APCs which resemble the famous Israeli Merkava MBT and the Nemer APC were used during the maneuvers, some of these exercises are re-enacting operations that had been previously carried out, such as the joint Wafaa Al-Ahrar operation which was undertaken by the Al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Nasser Saladin Brigades and Jaysh Al-Islam which led them to capture Gilad Shalit in 2006, while other exercises were potential scenarios of ambushing and raiding.
Fig.1.4. Naval Commandos here appear to be using the Hungarian AK licensed version AMD-65 (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Naval Commandos training also took place in the maneuvers by re-enacting the Zikim operation when 4 individuals raided the Israeli Naval Base in Zikim in 2014, another re-enactment/training operation involved a group resembling the famous Israeli unit Shayetet-13 whom attempted to execute a seaborne raid on the beach of Al-Sudaniyah neighborhood in Gaza but were ambushed and repelled by Palestinian guerrilla fighters also during the 2014 Gaza War.
Fig.1.5. Palestinian combatants during a re-enactment playing the role of Shayetet-13 unit (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Fig.1.6. A Palestinian combatant ambushing the incoming seaborne troops with 9M133 Kornet ATGM during a re-enactment (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Palestinian Civil Defense units also participated in the exercises, their training included firefighting and rescue missions as would be carried out in times of war.
Fig.1.7. A sniper from Saraya Al-Quds appears to be using an AM-50 Sayyad the Iranian variant of Steyr HS.50 (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Fig.1.8. From right a Fatah yellow banner with a patch stating “Jaysh Al-Asefa” جيش العاصفة or storm army with an AKMS, while in the middle there is a guy with an AK-103 -we couldn’t recognize the banner- while the guy with green banner is a member of Al-Qassam brigades and here he appears to be using a shortened barrel version of Bulgarian Arsenal’s AR-10 or probably, a fake version of it (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Fig.1.9. Egyptian AKM Maadi -apparently from the Arabic numbers on the rear site- equipped with picatinny rail on fore grip/hand guard (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Fig.1.10. A member of Al-Qassam brigades (green) and another from Saraya Al-Quds operating Bulsae-2 ATGM, a North Korean version of the Soviet made 9K111 Fagot (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Fig.1.11. A sniper and his spotter operating AM-50 Sayyad AMR which is distinguished from Ghoul 14.5x114mm by the overall length -137cm overall length for 12.7x99mm Sayyad while Ghoul is 200cm long with a barrel shroud which exists on KPV machine gun’s barrel (Source: Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions)
Images are sourced from the Joint Command Center of the Palestinian factions, from which the above images are cited from.
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I think your mystery commando with the camo headband, fig.1.8, is Kata’ab al Qassam brigade. The naval branch of Hamas, some people call it Hamas navy SEALS