Israel urges global spies to pool resources on IS

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Tuesday called for world intelligence agencies to work together against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

“In order to stop and overcome the Islamic State, we have learnt since 9/11 that there must be cooperation between intelligence agencies from across the free world, a sharing of experience and operational cooperation,” he told Israel Radio.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group is at the forefront of a sweeping assault that has overrun swaths of Iraq and holds significant areas of territory in neighboring Syria.

US President Barack Obama on Friday called for a broad coalition to defeat the IS jihadists and he is to chair a key UN Security Council session on the threat on September 24.

Asked about the proposed international coalition, former military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin indicated Israel would likely share its intelligence with its allies.

“The intelligence that we gather in the Middle East — which deals with threats from Iran, (Lebanon’s Shiite) Hezbollah, what’s happening in Syria, terrorist organizations in Sinai and the Gaza Strip — is of very good quality and we share it with our allies,” he told the radio.

Reuters, citing an unnamed Western official, reported Monday that Israel had provided the US with intelligence and satellite images on Islamic State positions, as well as information on Westerners joining its ranks, to assist Washington in its ongoing operation against the Islamic State.

Israeli spy satellites were said to have greater access to the region, allowing the US to “fill out its information and get a better battle damage assessment” in the aftermath of its airstrikes, the diplomat said, according to the report.

Last week, Yaalon adopted a recommendation by the Shin Bet internal security agency and designated both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades as an “illegal organization” under Israeli law.

The move allows for legal measures to be taken against both organizations as well as anyone found to be supporting or financing them.

Last week, IS released a video showing the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff, who also reportedly held Israeli nationality, in the second such execution of a US journalist within a fortnight.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades is a Lebanese jihadist group linked to Al-Qaeda which periodically claims rocket fire on Israel.