IDF releases recording of tank commander helping infantry troops before being killed in Gaza

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Lt. Col. Salman Habaka, the commander of the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, on November 2, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Lt. Col. Salman Habaka, the commander of the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, on November 2, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces releases the last recording of Lt. Col. Salman Habaka, the commander of the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, shortly before he was killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Habaka had assisted the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion during a fierce overnight clash, in which troops managed to fend off a Hamas ambush.

“Can I help you with something? Immediate extraction? Over,” Habaka is heard saying over the radio to the 13th Battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Tomer Greenberg.

Greenberg asks Habaka to keep his forces in the area to cover them, in order to deploy more troops out of their armored vehicles amid the battle.

“I rescued you, now you’ve come to help me. Over,” Greenberg says.

Habaka was killed later that night during clashes with Hamas gunmen.

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