PORTFOLIO | DEFENSE FORCES | YAMAM SWAT

Exclusive reportage of the elite police unit YAMAM, it's the first time that the unit has been photographed and totally exposed. The Yamam is a Special Police Unit, capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas. Besides military duties, it also performs SWAT duties and undercover police work. The Yamam was established in 1974, throughout the years it has been engaged in varied activities, both operational and logistic. Most of the Yamam's activity is classified, and published Yamam operations are often credited to other units.

The force's activity - in rescuing hostages and combating terror, as well as the war on serious crime - requires the soldiers to master a number of unique abilities, among them: gliding from a helicopter, riding motorbikes, using attack-dogs, rappelling, response against non-conventional terrorism and using advanced battle gear and robots.  Within their training routine, Yamam soldiers practice taking over any type of buildings and transportation such as planes, trains, cars and buses.

Due to its daily engagement in battling terrorism the Yamam has been positioned as a prominent leader in its field with a high ability to thwart hostile terrorist activity at strategic locations. Unit representatives are asked to train and coach parallel units worldwide. In addition, the Unit maintains its ongoing relationships and communications with similar leading units worldwide, in order to test special equipment and technologies, to develop new technological and tactical devices, and to constantly keep updated on all methods of action.