1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon
| 1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre (during Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon) | |||||||
Israeli commanders debriefing following the operation | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Israel | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Emmanuel Shaked Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Ehud Barak Shmuel Presburger Amos Yaron Shaul Ze'ev |
Yasser Arafat Kamal Adwan † Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar † | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 killed | 50+ killed | ||||||
| 3 Lebanese policemen and 4 civilians killed | |||||||
On the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, 1973, Israeli army special forces units attacked several Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) targets in Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon. The attack, known as Operation Spring of Youth, is generally considered to have been part of Operation Wrath of God, Israel's retaliation for the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The Israeli troops arrived at the Lebanese beaches on speedboats launched from missile boats offshore. Mossad agents awaited the forces on the beaches with cars rented the previous day, and then drove them to their targets and later back to the beaches for extraction.
During the operation, three of the highest-level PLO leaders, surprised at home, were killed, along with other PLO members. Several Lebanese security people and civilian neighbors were also killed, as were two of the Israeli soldiers.