Commander of “Russian Battalion” of Israeli Army wounded

Commander of “Alia Battalion” was wounded in Gaza on March 24.
He had a surgery in a hospital in Beer Sheva.

The wounded commander declined to tell the details of the fight. He said that as an officer he was not authorized to reveal the information on military operations.

”I would like to call all Israeli patriots to be courageous in this hard time”, said Roman Ratner in a Cursor interview.

”Alia Battalion needs assistance and new volunteers. This will provide support to the government in completing the liquidation of terrorists. No square foot of land should be given up to terrorists”.

Retired colonel and well-known public figure Moshe Leshem said that Alia Battalion had contributed much in fighting terrorism. “These people can work under extremely difficult conditions. The most important thing is that they are ready to sacrifice themselves. They bear a spirit of victory, not of capitulation, for the sake of peace chimeras”.

Former officer of the Soviet Army Roman participated in Soviet invading Afghanistan in the end of 1970s. In 1992 he emigrated in Israel, and in 2002 established Alia Battalion. There are more than 1,000 former officers of the Soviet Army and special force in the battalion. In 2002, 378 former Soviet officers decided to assist Israeli Army in dealing with Palestinian terrorists.

”Israeli government had the idea of using the skills of the officers-emigrants long time ago. We received support”, said Mr. Ratner in an interview.

Unlike the commander, not all the volunteers are Jews. There are Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Russians, natives of Central Asia and even Tatars-Moslems in the battalion. They all fought in Afghanistan or Chechnya, many of them previously were in special forces.

There are snipers, special servicemen and paratroopers, medical personnel in Alia Battalion. They operate mainly on the West bank of the Jordan river and are engaged in protecting Jewish settlements from Palestinian militants. Israelis call them “Gdud Alia” – immigrant battalion.

Souce: Newsru