SOFREP Throwback Thursday: The Explosive Goats of the West Bank

Editor’s Note: This 2012 SOFREP piece offers a surreal look at a military operation in the West Bank, where a seemingly ordinary goat herder and his flock turned out to be part of a terrorist plot. The story highlights the bizarre lengths terrorists go to and the intense pressure on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to protect civilians while dealing with these threats. As we revisit this moment, we’re reminded of the strange and unpredictable nature of conflict zones. Enjoy this throwback!

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Going into some of the most dangerous parts of the West Bank is often a surreal experience. It can be dangerous, it can be eye-opening, it can be frustrating, and more often than not, all of the above.

The IDF operates under a lot of stress. On the one hand, they are trying to deal with some of the worst terrorists in the world, and they are constantly trying to infiltrate Israel in order to blow themselves up in school buses, schools, shopping malls, and cafes. On the other hand, they want to help maintain peace in the area and allow those who do not engage in terrorism to live their lives. The terrorists play with this and often use innocent civilians as a way to try to infiltrate through a checkpoint.

Sometimes, the intelligence guys provide solid intel, and some of the worst-case scenarios are stopped before they are put into play. This means going into the buildings and chasing those individuals or groups.

On one occasion, we were pulling security over a building providing support for another operation when a goatherd and 15 goats appeared in our Area of Operations (AO). There wasn’t anything wrong with that; goats were semi-normal in that area, and after a quick scan, we focused back on the building we were surveilling.

A couple of minutes later, we noticed that instead of continuing with their daily walk, the goats were being moved in a circle closer and closer to the building where the operation was about to take place. We focused on the goats again, and that’s when I saw it.

One of the goats was dragging what appeared to be a dead goat. We missed it initially because the animals were being moved very close to each other. But there it was. I called one of the other guys, and with a spotter’s scope, he confirmed that there was something like a dead goat being dragged by another goat.

We called the Op Commander and described what we were seeing. He, in turn, called one of the guys on the street, about to go into the building, and requested a closer look – we were posted about 300 meters from the location. This guy called us on our comms, and we walked him through the maze of streets to where the goats were. He appears about 100 meters from the herd. As soon as he trained his binoculars, he called on the radio, “Shoot the fucker, it’s a fucking bomb!” and started running back to where the guys were slowly walking toward the building.

The commander asked for more info, and as he was running, he told him (and us) that he saw what appeared to be a bunch of tan-colored packages attached to the dead goat.

After a few minutes the commanding officer told us over the radio to shoot the dead goat.

Alright then, shooting the dead goat it is.

While one of the guys took aim, we kept scanning the area for civilians. The goatherd by then was out of site, so I touched the shooter’s shoulder, and he squeezed the trigger. The M24 suppressed whispered the bullet, and all of a sudden, a huge explosion shook us all.

When we were able to see again, we noticed that most goats were obliterated and there was a massive crater in the street and surrounding buildings.

Damn…

When the bomb tech finally got to the area, after the operation was aborted, they discovered that at least half of those goats were packing explosives. Those sob terrorists were trying to blow the soldiers using goats.

Anyone for goat cheese?