5 years since the assassination of Al-Zouari, a Tunisian engineer who brought the marches to the Qassam arsenal

Although he was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in front of his home in Sfax on December 15, the works and achievements of Tunisian engineer Mohamed Zouari are still strongly present in the arsenal of the Al-Qassam Brigades of the Palestinian movement Hamas.

Although he was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in front of his home in Sfax on December 15, the works and achievements of Tunisian engineer Mohamed Zouari are still strongly present in the arsenal of the Al-Qassam Brigades of the Palestinian movement Hamas.

On this day 5 years ago, Tunisian mechanical engineer Mohamed Zouari was assassinated in his car in front of his home in Sfax, southern Tunisia. While the news spread that the case might be a matter of a "public right", the statement of the military obituary published by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas resistance movement on December 17, 2016 came to cast doubt on certainty, and inform the whole world that al-Zawari was in contact Directly with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, and that his killing was the result of an assassination operation carried out by the Israeli Mossad.

Al-Qassam’s statement revealed that Al-Zawari had visited Gaza 3 times, and he was one of its leaders and one of those who supervised the “Ababil 1” drone project, which had an active role in the Battle of Eaten Storm in Gaza in 2014, in addition to the unmanned submarine project that the engineer was working on. Al-Tunisi before his assassination.

For its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades promised to avenge the killing of Al-Zawari, who made significant and direct contributions to strengthening and developing the air and sea systems of the Palestinian resistance, as his planes and unmanned submarines made a qualitative leap in confronting the Israeli aggression and monitoring and striking its targets in the depth without having to risk the lives of the resistance fighters.

Birth and upbringing

Born in Sfax, Tunisia, in 1967, Mohamed Zouari studied mechanical engineering at the National School of Engineers in Sfax before learning to fly. But because of his affiliation with the Tunisian Renaissance Movement, Zouari was imprisoned during the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and after his release in 1991 he traveled to Libya and then Sudan.

After obtaining Sudanese citizenship, Al-Zawari left for Syria and married a Syrian woman there. While in Syria, the engineer joined the ranks of Hamas.

After the overthrow of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime in 2011, Zouari returned to Tunisia to take the position of a university professor at the National School of Engineers, where he taught students to manufacture drones, and by 2015 the Tunisian engineer succeeded in testing his drone, which he was working on in pre-research PhD.

Before his assassination in late 2016, al-Zawari had visited Gaza while working on the program for the design and development of drones called “Ababeel 1,” used by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in its war against Israel in the Gaza Strip in a battle "Eatable Storm" in 2014, in addition to the unmanned submarine project he was working on as part of his doctoral thesis.

Zouari's contributions

Al-Zawari’s achievements and the technology he developed have contributed to a qualitative leap in the capabilities of the Palestinian resistance, especially the air and sea, especially since his technical contributions still attract attention when they are used, whether to monitor and control Israeli strategic goals or even strike them from a distance without having to risk the lives of Palestinian resistance members.

In fact, Al-Zawari's contributions did not stop at the borders of the drones only, but also reached the depths of the water, through the unmanned submarines that Al-Zawari designed and developed to support the Palestinian resistance and create a kind of technical deterrence to repel Israeli tyranny.

In addition to the "Ababil 1" drones that the Palestinian resistance uses to monitor or strike distant strategic Israeli targets, the Al-Qassam Brigades also have in its military arsenal unmanned submarines capable of carrying explosive materials weighing 50 kilograms, bearing the signature of Tunisian engineer Mohamed Al-Zouari.

Assassination operation

As he was getting ready to start his car, Mohamed Al-Zawari was assassinated in front of his house on December 15, 2016, after a pickup truck intercepted his way, and two people began raining more than 20 bullets on his car and his body with 9mm pistols fitted with silencers. While 8 of them settled in the engineer's body, 8 of them were fatal bullets to the chest and head.

Two days after the statement published by the Al-Qassam Brigades, which held the Israeli Mossad responsible for Zouari’s assassination, investigations by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior, which were announced on December 19, 2016, revealed that planning for the assassination began 6 months ago, specifically in June 2016, through Two fictitious companies set up by foreigners in Tunisia using two separate balanced schemes, one of which failed and the other succeeded.

Investigations indicated that one of those involved in the execution of the assassination of Tunisian aviation engineer Mohamed Zouari is a young Belgian of Moroccan origin who had entered Tunisia 3 months before the execution of the operation, in the context of preparing for the murder and had a business relationship with a Tunisian woman working in the media field. A press interview with the victim was arranged in two stages.

The return of the "Oriental Train" a charming winter trip between Ankara and eastern Anatolia

The longest tourist train trips in Turkey, with a length of 1,310 km, starts from Ankara to Kars through five states. Passengers enjoy a wonderful winter trip in the snow until they reach Kars, where the beauty of nature blends with the ancient history.

The "Orient Express" will resume its tourist flights on Wednesday, December 15, after being suspended for a period as part of the measures imposed to confront the spread of the Corona pandemic.

The train departs from the Turkish capital, Ankara (central) to the far northeastern state of Kars, on a journey that combines history and the beauty of nature.

With the increase in demand for the Orient Train, the Turkish Railways, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, began offering tourist trips on the same line in 2019 with the aim of improving service and contributing to domestic tourism.

The Orient Express is the longest journey of the Turkish Railways, with a route length of 1,310 km, starting from Ankara to Kars, passing through the states of Qirikkale, Kayseri, Sivas, Erzincan and Erzurum.

The Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adel Kara Ismailoglu, will bid farewell to the passengers of the first trip of the Orient Express tourist train, on Wednesday, after resuming its flights following the easing of restrictions imposed to confront Corona.

Along the way, passengers enjoy a wonderful winter trip in the snow until they reach the state of Kars, where the beauty of the snow-covered nature blends with the ancient history.

Kars, especially during the winter season, receives many local and foreign tourists thanks to the Orient Express and the tourist train.

Kars includes many important tourist places that attract tourists, the most famous of which is the ancient city of "Ani", which is the first entrance to Anatolia from the Caucasus.

The ruins of "Ani" are called by many names, the most important of which are "the city of the world", "the cradle of civilizations", "the thousand churches and churches" and "the city of 40 gates", and UNESCO included it in 2016 on the World Heritage List.

Kars also includes architectural edifices of unique historical and aesthetic value, such as the Abu Al-Munoucher Mosque, which is the first mosque built by the Turks in Anatolia, the historic Kars Citadel and many churches and cathedrals.

Visitors to the city also enjoy riding horse-drawn sleighs over the surface of Lake Gilder, whose waters freeze with low temperatures in winter. They also try to catch Eskimo fish through circular holes on the frozen surface of the lake, which is half a meter thick in some places.

The lake is one of the most important tourist centers in Turkey and is located between the states of Kars and Ardahan and has an area of ​​123 km.

Tourists coming to Kars are also interested in visiting the Military Museum of the Caucasus Front, which is one of the three interactive museums in Turkey, in addition to visiting the village of Bogatpe, which is famous for making many types of cheese.

Attention beyond expectation

In statements to Anadolu Agency, Khair El-Din Chetin, Director of Culture and Tourism in Kars State, expressed his happiness with the return of tourist trips to the Orient Express, noting that it is one of the most beautiful train trips in the world.

He said, "Passengers of the tourist train live in a fantastical atmosphere throughout their journey, and after seeing many places, they arrive in Kars, where the ruins of the historical city of Ani, Lake Gildir, the ski center of Sari Qamish and other tourist places await them."

Chetin pointed out that the Orient Express made a very important contribution to the revival of tourism in the state of Kars, and explained that tourists' interest in Kars and their demand to visit it exceeded all their expectations, to the extent that those wishing to visit face difficulty in finding tickets for the train and that the number of trips is not sufficient to meet the increasing demand.

The Turkish official recommended to those coming to the state to eat goose meat and the types of cheese for which Kars is famous, and to buy souvenirs made of obsidian stones.

Orient Express Tourist Train

On May 29, 2019, the Orient Express tourist train trips were launched in cooperation between the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Railway Authority in Turkey with the aim of revitalizing tourism, but the trips stopped in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Orient Express tourist track is considered one of the most beautiful around the world, and the long stops in the states of Erzincan, Erzincan-Ilic, Erzurum, Sivas-Devry, and Sivas-Bostankaya provide an important opportunity for tourists to explore the region and enjoy its beautiful nature.

On its way from Ankara to Kars, the tourist train stops in Erzincan for two hours and 50 minutes, in Ilic district for three hours and 5 minutes, and in Erzurum for two hours and 40 minutes, and on the return trip it stops at Sivas for two hours and 50 minutes, and in Bostankaya for 3 hours and 15 minutes. In order to enable tourists to visit the important sites in those states and learn about their tourism potential.​

The tourist train runs twice a week. The journey length from Ankara to Kars is 1,310 kilometers and takes 31.5 hours. It departs from Ankara on Wednesday and Friday, and from Kars on Friday and Sunday.