From — Resistance News Network
Falcon of Tunisia:
An outstanding engineer, Zouari had shown academic prowess from a young age. He pursued his studies in the Faculty of Engineering in Sfax, southern Tunisia, where he was born and raised. In addition to being an exceptional scientist, Zouari carried the Islamic and revolutionary cause as his core ideal, never settling for lukewarm positions or compromising.
Captivated by the Hamas movement and its leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Zouari sought to join the movement along with 14 other young Tunisian men. All but Zouari and 2 others were arrested. Zouari sought refuge in Sudan and Syria, where he gained valuable technical experience and continued his revolutionary path. While in Sudan, he traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to aid its Muslim population in the 1990s. Zouari connected with Islamic resistance movements from around the world, including the Palestinian resistance movement, using mosques as a networking locale.
Zouari was later recruited in Al-Qassam Brigades due to his mastery of mechanical engineering and computer science, as well as their application in military technology, and later inducted into the development and manufacturing unit. Zouari continued his traveling, notably to Syria and Iran, where he partook in aerospace training programs to further enrich his expertise.
Picking up where other martyrs left off, Zouari was central in the development of the Ababil reconnaissance and attack drones used by the Al-Qassam Brigades. Yet, Zouari’s most recent project was developing a submarine drone. Zouari returned to his hometown Sfax to develop it while using it as the core of his doctoral thesis. Having reached a breakthrough for the resistance in Gaza, many speculate it was this project, along with his previous contributions, that led to his cowardly assassination Mossad. His idea nevertheless came to fruition and was developed into the Al-Asif torpedo used by Al-Qassam Brigades today.
A modest man, Zouari never sought recognition. Due to the secrecy of his work, he used many aliases, most well-known as “Murad al-Tunisi” (Murad the Tunisian). His own family, brimming with pride, found out about his resistance work only after Hamas' announcement of his martyrdom. Though an excellent academic, he did not attain a degree under his true name. Despite his obscurity in life, his legacy lives on in the voices of Tunisians and Gazans, who vowed: "We will not let the martyr Mohamed Zouari be forgotten."
Seven years ago, Mossad assassins fired dozens of shots as Zouari entered his car in Sfax. Zouari was martyred, but the influence of his ideas rippled throughout the resistance.
Zouari’s legacy continues to mark the resistance landscape in the region. As Zouari learned from others, the seeds he planted led to the development of advanced drones with enhanced capabilities for Al-Qassam, as well as a suite of reconnaissance and attack drones developed by Saraya Al-Quds in Syria under the guidance of martyrs Ali Al-Aswad and Awad Al-Qeeq.
With his UAVs, Al-Qassam Brigades struck "israeli" factories and a natural gas platform in 2014. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that 35 Zouari drones, named after the heroic martyr, were used at the start of Al-Aqsa Flood to destroy enemy military targets and allow for the penetration of the fighters into the occupied lands. Since the start of the battle, the Brigades have made plenty of use of the drones named in his honor, targeting IOF bases and sites in the zionist depth, and targets within Gaza during the ongoing invasion.
Martyr Basil Al-Araj stated: "You want to be an intellectual? You must resist. Otherwise, you and your education are useless." Zouari fulfilled his responsibility as a Muslim, an intellectual, and a resistor. Zouari, you will remain an icon, and your deeds eternal, and your continuous struggle in the service of the Islamic resistance and knowledge will outline the path of liberating Palestine, by air and sea.
Oiselarius (he/him) 
