- Also called:
- General Staff Reconnaissance Unit 269 or The Unit
- Date:
- 1957 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- intelligence
Sayeret Matkal
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What is Sayeret Matkal?
Sayeret Matkal is an elite commando unit of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), established in 1957 by Avraham Arnan. Arnan convinced the IDF General Staff that a special combat unit was needed to conduct top-secret intelligence-gathering missions in enemy territory. Since its creation, the unit has executed numerous hostage rescues and counterterrorist operations.
Sayeret Matkal has also been involved in counterterror attacks and assassinations. For example, future Prime Minister Ehud Barak led a raid into Lebanon in 1973 that assassinated three Palestinian leaders.
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When and why was Sayeret Matkal created?
Sayeret Matkal, an elite commando unit of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), was founded in 1957 by IDF officer Avraham Arnan. Arnan petitioned the IDF General Staff to create a combat unit that could operate in enemy territory and conduct top-secret intelligence-gathering missions. Since its creation, the unit has carried out numerous hostage rescues and other counterterrorist operations. Sayeret Matkal has also engaged in many counterterror attacks and assassinations.
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What are the main missions of Sayeret Matkal?
The primary missions of Sayeret Matkal, an elite Israeli commando unit, involve top-secret intelligence gathering in enemy territory. Since its establishment in 1957, the unit has been involved in numerous hostage rescues and counterterrorism operations.
Sayeret Matkal has also engaged in counterterror attacks and assassinations, such as Operation Spring of Youth in 1973, led by Ehud Barak, to assassinate three Palestinian leaders. The unit has been credited with the assassination of Khalīl Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr in 1988 and the kidnapping of Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid in 1989. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Sayeret Matkal undertook Operation Sharp and Smooth to disrupt weapons smuggling.
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What are some famous operations carried out by Sayeret Matkal?
Sayeret Matkal is an elite Israeli commando unit renowned for its covert intelligence-gathering missions and counterterrorism operations.
Famous Operations
- Operation Spring of Youth In 1973, Ehud Barak led this raid into Lebanon, where, disguised as a woman, he directed the unit to assassinate three Palestinian leaders.
- Operation Isotope In 1972, the unit freed hostages on a Sabena airliner at the Tel Aviv Airport. Commandos disguised as maintenance personnel took control of the airliner from members of the Palestinian militant Black September Organization.
- Entebbe Raid In 1976, Sayeret Matkal collaborated with other Israeli Defense Force units to rescue hostages from an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda.
- Operation Sharp and Smooth During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Sayeret Matkal undertook this operation to disrupt weapons smuggling.
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How has Sayeret Matkal influenced Israel’s military and security tactics?
Sayeret Matkal, an elite Israeli commando unit founded in 1957, has significantly shaped Israel's military and security tactics through its intelligence-gathering missions, hostage rescues, and counterterrorism operations.
The unit has carried out numerous counterterror attacks and assassinations. Sayeret Matkal was also believed to be involved in reconnaissance missions in Syria, including the collection of soil samples, that preceded Operation Orchard, the bombing of a Syrian nuclear reactor.
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Sayeret Matkal, elite commando unit of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) founded in 1957 by IDF officer Avraham Arnan, who petitioned the IDF General Staff for a combat unit in enemy territory to conduct top secret intelligence-gathering missions. Since its founding, the unit has carried out numerous hostage rescues and other counterterrorist operations.
Hostage rescues
Sayeret Matkal is well known for its participation in several spectacular hostage rescues. The unit freed hostages on a Sabena airliner at the Tel Aviv Airport in 1972; commandos disguised as maintenance personnel took control of the airliner from members of the Palestinian militant Black September Organization during “Operation Isotope.” In 1976 Sayeret Matkal worked with other Israeli Defense Force units to free hostages from an Air France plane that had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda; it used a black Mercedes automobile that was a perfect copy of the Ugandan leader Idi Amin’s personal car, and the ruse fooled the local troops (see Entebbe raid). Rescue force leader Lieut. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of Benjamin Netanyahu (who would later serve as Israel’s prime minister), was killed as he brought the hostages to safety.
Not all of Sayeret Matkal’s hostage rescues were as successful as the Sabena airliner and Entebbe operations. One hostage rescue mission undertaken at an Israeli school on May 15, 1974, went horribly wrong. Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)—a Marxist-Leninist organization associated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and founded by Nayif Hawātmeh—took over a school in the northern town of Maʿalot, and dozens of teachers and students were taken hostage. When Sayeret Matkal stormed the school, DFLP members began firing at the hostages. At least 20 people, many of them children, were killed. Some of these victims were killed or wounded in the exchange of fire between Sayeret Matkal and the DFLP.
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Counterterrorism operations
Sayeret Matkal also engaged in many counterterror attacks and assassinations. Sayeret Matkal commando Ehud Barak (who would serve as Israel’s prime minister from 1999 to 2001) led a raid called Operation Spring of Youth into Lebanon in 1973. Disguised as a woman, Barak directed the unit to assassinate three Palestinian leaders. Barak, who had joined the unit while still in his late teens, rose to the leadership of Sayeret Matkal. Benjamin Netanyahu served under Barak in Sayeret Matkal. The unit was also credited with the assassination of PLO second-in-command Khalīl Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr, known as Abū Jihād, in 1988, and the purported kidnapping of Hezbollah’s spiritual leader Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid in July of 1989. Officially, Sayeret Matkal gunned down Abū Jihād inside his Tunis home; however, his assassination was also attributed to the Mossad, Israel’s secret service.
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Sayeret Matkal undertook Operation Sharp and Smooth, intended to disrupt weapons smuggling. The following year, Sayeret Matkal was believed to be involved in reconnaissance missions in Syria, including the collection of soil samples, that preceded Operation Orchard, the bombing of a Syrian nuclear reactor.
Sayeret Matkal was at the centre of a different kind of controversy in 2003, when 13 of its members presented Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a resignation letter saying that they refused to continue assisting “the oppressive reign in the territories.”