IDF soldier dies in freak training accident in Golan Heights
Pvt. Mor Cohen, 19, dies after being hit by a bullet fired by another soldier during urban combat drill.
By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Israel news IDFA Golani infantry Brigade soldier was shot and killed by a fellow soldier on Monday in what the Israel Defense Forces called a rare training accident.
Pvt. Mor Cohen, 19, died shortly after being hit by a bullet fired by another soldier during practice for combat in a built-up area. He is the fifth IDF soldier to die in training accidents this year.
A Golani detachment was training in Zaura, a Syrian village in the Golan Heights that was abandoned during the Six-Day War, and is now an IDF training facility.
After completing a "dry" drill, a four-member team approached one of the structures for shooting practice, to begin a "wet" drill, with live ammunition.
Two of the soldiers entered the structure and started firing at the targets set up inside. One of the bullets penetrated the wall and hit Cohen, who was standing outside with another soldier, in the jaw. He was fatally wounded and died shortly afterward.
The company commander, who was inside with the first two soldiers, saw that Mor hadn't entered the building, and ordered the soldiers to hold their fire.
A senior Golani commander said that everyone involved in the drill had acted in keeping with orders and no safety flaws were detected. A preliminary investigation showed that safety regulations were strictly adhered to, as combat in a built-up area is regarded as extremely dangerous, especially when the soldiers are young and inexperienced.
However, officers who have trained at the Zaura facility in recent months said it was "crumbling and unsafe." The entrances to some of the structures have been blocked with concrete due to risks of collapse, and some officers suggested that the buildings had not been tested for resistance to bullets.
An IDF spokesman said the facility had been inspected five months ago andfound to be in order.
The IDF had built several new facilities for combat training in built-up areas in recent years, but in Zaura no structural changes had been made for more than 20 years.
In August, Golani Sergeant Uriel Librant was killed in the Golan when the tank he commanded overturned, and Golani Sergeant Or Hadad was killed from a bullet accidentally discharged by a comrade.
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Pvt. Mor Cohen. |
| Photo by: (Reproduction) |
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May Private Cohen's Family be comforted along with the other Mourners of Zion.
What else do you expect when firing a 0.223 bullet from close range at the wall of a derelict building? Safety standards were obviously lacking.
The Syrians had been firing on Israeli farmers from the Golan Heights for 19 years, and launched what they claimed would be a lethal attack against Israel in 1967. They lost and residents of some villages (not all, the Druze remained) ran away. This is not whining - it's historical fact. As for training in an abandoned village - would you prefer that Israel raze it to the ground (as the Arabs razed to the ground Jewish villages abandoned in 1948 in the WB) or build a settlement there? And yes, Israel does keep repeating that Syria attacked - if they hadn't, Israel wouldn't now be on the Golan for crying out loud. If you're going to carry out aggression, you have to be prepared for the consequences. Otherwise, you're just a bunch of bullies.
You and your likes Purple keep whinning and repeating to not forget that Syrian atached, and Syrians lost, that you forget the reality. I see no morals there to train in a village whose residents were FORCED to leave their village. So by Arab tradition this land is cursed. I hope there will be no third round in this enless wars, that would be possible end Israelis in the sea..
I hope for the sake of his family he is returned to be buried without any of his organs removed
In truth the Golan was evacuated by Syria before 1967 and turned into a military zone so the town was abandoned by Syrians in order to make war on Israel and terrorize Israelis from the Golan. Never again the Golan is back in its rightful owners hands.
Well, you know Farid, Syria attacked Israel in 1967. And Syria lost. Perhaps if that fact were better remembered, the Arabs would do a lot less whining.
Where weapons are handled there are always accidents
Feel bad for the family and the IDF must be more careful.
yep a Syrian village that was abandoned just like that to be a play war for your boys ...
Please... next time, perform some tests on the resistence of the walls to make sure no bullets go through them. I'm surprised it takes one dead soldier for you guys to realize this... that is IF you realized it yet...
Israel must always be prepared for foreign invasion by it's enemies and must train hard. However, five soldiers dying by accident in one year is five too many and I feel horrible for the friends and families of the victims.