News
Fight-to-finish: Israel Deploys New Military AI In Gaza War
Published
3 months agoon
By
EditorIsrael’s army has deployed some AI-enabled military technology in combat for the first time in Gaza, raising fears about the use of autonomous weapons in modern warfare.
The army has hinted at what the new tech is being used for, with spokesman Daniel Hagari saying last month that Israel’s forces were operating “above and underground simultaneously”.
A senior defence official told AFP the tech was destroying enemy drones and mapping Hamas’s vast tunnel network in Gaza.
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New defence technologies including artificial intelligence-powered gunsights and robotic drones form a bright spot in an otherwise dire period for Israel’s tech industry.
The sector accounted for 18 percent of GDP in 2022, but the war in Gaza has wreaked havoc with an estimated eight percent of its workforce called up to fight.
“In general the war in Gaza presents threats, but also opportunities to test emerging technologies in the field,” said Avi Hasson, chief executive of Startup Nation Central, an Israeli tech incubator.
“Both on the battlefield and in the hospitals there are technologies that have been used in this war that have not been used in the past.”
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But the rising civilian death toll shows that much greater oversight is needed over the use of new forms of defence tech, Mary Wareham, an arms expert at Human Rights Watch, told AFP.
“Now we’re facing the worst possible situation of death and suffering that we’re seeing today –- some of that is being brought about by the new tech,” she said.
More than 150 countries in December backed a UN resolution identifying “serious challenges and concerns” in new military tech, including “artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems.”
– ‘Angry Birds’ –
Hamas on October 7 launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Hamas also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says some 132 remain in Gaza including at least 29 believed to have been killed.
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Israel’s military response has killed nearly 28,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Like many other modern conflicts, the war has been shaped by a proliferation of inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, which have made attacks from the air easier and cheaper.
Hamas used them to drop explosives on October 7, while Israel has turned to new tech to shoot them down.
In a first, the army has used an AI-enabled optic sight, made by Israeli startup Smart Shooter, which is attached to weapons such as rifles and machine guns.
“It helps our soldiers to intercept drones because Hamas uses a lot of drones,” said the senior defence official.
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“It makes every regular soldier — even a blind soldier — a sniper.”
Another system to neutralise drones involves deploying a friendly drone with a net that it can throw around the enemy craft to neutralise it.
“It’s drone versus drone — we call it Angry Birds,” the official said.
– Hamas tunnels –
A pillar of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to “destroy” Hamas is quickly mapping the underground tunnel network where Israel says the group’s fighters are hiding and holding hostages.
The network is so vast that the army has dubbed it the “Gaza Metro” and a recent study by US military academy West Point said there were 1,300 tunnels stretching over 500 kilometres (310 miles).
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To map the tunnels the army has turned to drones that use AI to learn to detect humans and can operate underground, including one made by Israel startup Robotican that encases a drone inside a robotic case.
It is being used in Gaza “to enter into tunnels and to see as far as the communication lets you,” the senior Israeli defence official said.
Before the war the technology did not allow drones to operate underground because of issues sending images to the surface, the official added.
The conflict has raised human rights concerns but also cemented Israel’s status as a world-leading manufacturer of cutting-edge defence systems.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the United States — Israel’s main international ally and provider of billions of dollars each year in military aid — was training its own soldiers to shoot down drones using Smart Shooter’s optic sights.
In late January, three US soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a base in Jordan.
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The Edo State Police Command has arrested three pipeline vandals in the Obazagbon community of the Orhiomwon Local Government Area.
The suspects include Jackson Aluche, aged 45; Oke Okoro, aged 30; and Oluchukwu Chukwuma, aged 18.
It was gathered that the incident occurred on April 14 at about 10:30 a.m.
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When contacted by our correspondent, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the incident.
He added that the suspects were caught siphoning crude oil and smashing a PAN Ocean Oil Corporation pipeline.
Nwabuzor noted that the suspects admitted to the crime, claiming that one AKA Doctor had hired them to carry out the deed and that they would be charged with court charges.
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He said, “On April 14, 2024, at about 1030 a.m., the operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department, while acting on credible intelligence, arrested three suspects, namely, Jackson Aluche, 45 years old; Oke Okoro, 30 years old; and Oluchukwu Chukwuma, 18 years old, at Obazagbon community in Orhiomwon Local Government Area of Edo State.
“They were caught breaking a crude oil pipeline for Pan Ocean Oil Corporation and siphoning crude oil. The suspects made statements and confessed to the crime, saying that they were employed by AKA Doctor to carry out the act. Suspects will soon be charged in court.”
News
Cultists Arrested For Invading Anambra Hotel With Charms
Published
7 hours agoon
April 26, 2024By
EditorNo fewer than 11 members of a suspected cult group allegedly terrorising the people of Ihembosi community in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State have been arrested by operatives of the Zone 13 Police Headquarters, Ukpo, Anambra State.
The suspects were arrested for allegedly invading the premises of Las Vegas Hotels Limited at Ubahu village in the area.
About 12 other members of the group are said to be currently on the run as the police operatives are still trailing them.
According to a police source, who refused to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak for the agency, the arrest of the suspects was carried out on Monday, following a strongly worded petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Zone 13 Police Command, Godwin Aghaulor. The Zone 13 Police Command controls police formations in Anambra, Enugu and some parts of Ebonyi states.
Aghaulor, who confirmed the arrests of the suspects in his office, on Thursday, said the police would carry out discreet investigations into the matter to ascertain the motives behind the action, while a manhunt had been launched to apprehend the fleeing gangsters.
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The Proprietor of Las Vegas Hotels Limited, Chief Omenife Onwuatu, had through his legal counsel, PJN Azubuike, petitioned the AIG seeking his intervention to curb the menace of the cultist group who he said went to the extreme of invading his hotel on March 10, 2024 with about 12 motorcycles, charms, cudgels, cutlasses, axes and other dangerous weapons and terrorised the owners, management and staff of the hotel, threatening to kill anyone at sight.
Onwuatu, who is also the Chairman of Ubahu village, had earlier warned the group to stop performing rituals in front of the stream in the area and to relocate their shrine to its base but his warning did not go down well with the suspects whom he simply identified as “idol worshippers, who earn their living through rituals.”
In the petition dated April 16, 2024, entitled, “Threat to life, cultism, terrorism, ritualism, threat of arson, conspiracy, forcible entry, trial by ordeal, assault, malicious damage and conduct likely to cause breach of peace,” the hotel proprietor lamented that during the invasion, the suspects forced open his hotel gate and deposited the charms at the entrance and premises of the hotel.
The petition read in part, “They chanted war songs, threatened to burn down the hotel and its premises, performed so many incantations and rituals in front of the hotel and its premises and passed death sentences on the owners and occupants of our client and thereafter escaped.”
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“Before the invasion, the suspects had earlier in the day unlawfully assembled themselves in various locations in the town where they organised and planned the invasion, assembled their weapons, demonstrated their charms, chanted war songs and passed death sentences on the leadership of the community before setting out to invade the hotel premises which they variously threatened to burn down.”
The petition noted that to make matters worse, the suspects captured their atrocities in a video and sent in to the internet in order to display their impunity, intimidate the operators and customers of the hotel and put extreme fear in them to force them to abandon the premises or come and negotiate with them.
“The negative effect of this is that the Managing Director of the hotel, other directors, managers and staff, as well as the customers, were thrown into extreme fear for their dear lives. While the customers of the hotel at the time of the incident hurriedly checked out, others who heard or saw the incident completely avoided the hotel and cancelled their bookings and the Goodwill of the hotel proprietor and her fortune were maliciously destroyed and damaged,” it stated.
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The petitioner therefore requested the AIG to use his good offices to apprehend all the members of the gang and recover their tools and implements to bring them to book and nip in the bud their plans to kill the hotel operators and leaders of the community and burn down the premises of Las Vegas Hotels Limited.
As of Monday, the day the suspects were arrested, pleas by counsel for the suspects, Ibuchi Ewuzue for the police to release the suspects on bail were turned down as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Zonal Criminal Investigations Department, was said to have ordered that the suspects should remain in detention until after investigations.
PUNCH
There was pandemonium, on Tuesday, after a fight broke out among some officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and those of Viju Company at the Oba Akran Avenue area of Ikeja, the state capital.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at midnight, resulting in multiple injuries to victims.
It was also learnt that one of the Viju Company’s motorboys had been shot, while others sustained hand stab wounds.
A video sent to our correspondent showed injured victims with blood on the hands, faces, and clothing of the LASTMA officials and Viju workers.
Speaking with The PUNCH, a driver at Viju, simply identified as Seyi, stated that soldiers, LASTMA officials, and touts came to impound their trucks at midnight and, in the process, stabbed his hand when he decided to fight back.
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“We were sleeping on top of the truck, and we were not aware of anything. Some boys were just shouting that they were already parking the vehicles. We approached them and asked why they would be impounding vehicles at odd hours. LASTMA officials, soldiers, and touts who came were up to 100. When I decided to fight back, they used an axe to stab my back. I was surprised that soldiers came for such an operation.”
Another Viju official, Issa Tijani, said they had threatened to send the arrested individuals to Kirikiri Prison, adding that they must pay N700,000 to free their vehicles.
He said, “They did not just raid Viju Company but also the whole neighbourhood. I wonder how they were sure that the people who were involved were the staff members of Viju. The issue on the ground currently is that they told them that they would carry all those guys to Kirikiri Prison for no reason because, firstly, they are not sure if they are the ones. Also, they told them to come and bail their vehicles for N700,000, which I think is not fair, and it is suspicious that they came at midnight. They also broke a bottle on my head
A driver at Viju Company, Ismalia Asuma said, “I did not do anything for the LASTMA officials. We were sleeping on top of trucks when they came to raid. They came with soldiers, the task force, and ‘agberos’ (touts) to attack them. They even shot me in the back because I did not do anything.”
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When contacted, the Public Relations Officer, LASTMA, Adebayo Taofeeq, said the residents filed a petition complaining about Viju trucks impeding the road, adding that 54 vehicles were impounded in the area around 12 a.m.
“We received a petition from the residents about the Viju milk truck drivers blocking the road left and right and turning the dual lane into one lane. We even wrote a petition to the Lagos State Parking Authority. We acted on the direction of the Honourable Special Adviser on Transportation, Sola Giwa. By getting there on April 23 by midnight, we were able to remove 54 trucks.”
He added that some miscreants attacked the agency officials and that five individuals were arrested.
“After we completed that assignment, they went ahead to mobilise miscreants from the Agege area, and as a result of that, they injured seven of our officials. Our men did not use guns at all; the only thing we used was teargas, and we do not know if the task force people were present there.
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“While LASTMA operational vehicles were vandalised, 54 Viju milk trucks were evacuated during the enforcement operations. The police, working alongside LASTMA, arrested five of these individuals (Falomo Oluwafemi, Afeniyi Stephen, Olamide Adekunle, Chukwu Guaja Eze, and Adeshina Sulaimon) and seized various weapons, including broken bottles, iron rods, charms, knives, and cutlasses.
“The injured LASTMA officers were promptly taken to the hospital for medical attention. Hon. Sola Giwa, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, stated that the arrested individuals would be prosecuted by the government as a deterrent to others.”
All efforts to get the reaction of the Director, Press and Public Affairs, Lagos State Taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, proved abortive, as he did not respond to calls and messages sent to his phone as of the time of filing this.
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