The “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation carried out by the “Al-Qassam Brigades” demonstrated strategic and engineering brilliance. The resistance system in Gaza evolved through local manufacturing workshops, equipping the “Al-Qassam Brigades” to enhance their military capabilities. Behind this evolution are dedicated, believing minds that harnessed knowledge in the service of jihad, some of whom became martyrs. In tribute, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” named their developed weapons after these individuals, prominent of which are the engineers Yahya Ayyash and Mohammed Al-Zawari.
Yahya Ayyash was born in the town of Rafat in the West Bank in 1966. He graduated from Birzeit University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1993. In the late 1980s, he joined the “Hamas” movement and became responsible for designing and executing several martyrdom operations against the “Israeli” occupation in the 1990s. These operations resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of “Israeli” soldiers and settlers.
During his university education, Ayyash was preoccupied with using force as a means of struggle for the Palestinian cause. His passion for science and continuous exploration of the university library's contents led him to research gunpowder manufacturing. Fascinated by the process, he found a way to overcome the resource shortage of the resistance military. Ayyash began formulating his explosive mixture using basic ingredients like sulfur, fertilizer, and charcoal. He also developed the necessary electrical circuits to manufacture explosives.
This is when the Palestinian Intifada shifted from stone resistance to the car bombings near “Israeli” gatherings, along with the martyrdom operations, which had a profound impact on undermining the morale of the settlers within the “Israeli” occupation entity. Under the supervision of Ayyash, the “Al-Qassam Brigade” operations continued to escalate. This resulted in Ayyash becoming the top target for “Israeli” intelligence and was also pursued by the security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority.
Ayyash's persisted in fighting back until 1996, when he was martyred in the explosion of a booby-trapped phone sent by the occupation intelligence to one of his assistants. Later, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” named their long-range missile, reaching up to 250 kilometers, after him.
As for Mohammed Al-Zawari, he was an aeronautical engineer in the “Al-Qassam Brigades.” He was born in Sfax, Tunisia, in 1967 and graduated from the National School of Engineers with a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering in 2001. Al-Zawari worked in the design and manufacturing of drones and later founded a private company in Tunisia specializing in this field.
Al-Zawari joined “Hamas” in the early 2000s and became responsible for the development and manufacturing of drones for the “Al-Qassam Brigades.” Leveraging his scientific, technical, and practical knowledge, he designed and executed drones capable of espionage, surveillance, bombardment, and jamming “Israeli” radars and communications. Al-Zawari also trained and qualified Palestinian mujahideen (fighters) on the use of drones and the transportation of the necessary equipment and materials to Gaza through covert and complex means.
In 2016, Al-Zawari was martyred by gunfire from “Mossad” agents while in his car in Sfax. At that time, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” announced retaliatory operations against the occupation to avenge him.
Although Al-Zawari is physically gone, his knowledge and jihad are not. His legacy once again shined during the “Israeli” aggression on Gaza in May 2021. The Palestinian resistance revealed his significant role in developing the military capabilities of the “Al-Qassam Brigades,” both in the air and at sea, through drones and autonomous underwater vehicles. In the latest aggression following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” named their latest drone after Al-Zawari.
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