Shayetet 13
Shayetet 13 is a naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary reconnaissance units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and boarding. The unit is trained for sea, air and land actions.
The unit has taken part in almost all of Israel's major wars, as well as other actions.
The unit is one of the most secretive in the Israeli military. The details of many missions and identities of active operatives are kept highly classified. The unit is respected as among the best of the world's special forces, and is compared to the US Navy SEALs and Britain's Special Boat Service. Unlike many other Israeli Special Forces Units which take men only for their 36-month mandatory service, volunteers for Shayetet 13 must agree to serve at least four and a half years.
History
Founding
Shayetet 13 is a veteran Israeli special forces unit. It was formed in 1949 by Yohai Ben-Nun with men drawn from the ranks of the Palyam, the naval branch of the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the ancestor of the Israel Defense Forces. The need for such a dedicated unit was a matter of debate during the early years of the IDF, and the unit subsequently suffered size and budget restrictions. Upon its foundation, the existence of Shayetet 13 was a state secret, and its members wore general Israeli Navy insignia rather than their own unique one.Early years
Shayetet 13 commandos participated in the 1956 Suez Crisis. They performed several failed reconnaissance missions before the war and later participated in the land campaign as regular soldiers. A plan for Shayetet 13 commandos to capture an Egyptian Navy frigate was almost put into action. The plan was called off because the elite unit's soldiers were deemed too valuable to risk for low-priority targets.In 1957, Shayetet 13 began to jointly train with the French Marine Commandos, and as a result, information about its existence began to leak. Two years later, the unit's soldiers were permitted to wear their distinctive bat insignia, and the existence of the unit was made public the year after that.
In the late 1950s, Shayetet 13 commandos carried out a series of reconnaissance missions to monitor the deliveries of Soviet gunboats to Syria and monitor Lebanon during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. On July 9, 1958, Shayetet 13 operatives infiltrated Beirut harbor in Operation Yovel. They were spotted and had to retreat, swimming back out to sea where an Israeli Navy torpedo boat picked them up and exchanged fire with a Lebanese patrol craft that intervened. The Israelis were able to retreat without any casualties. In 1962, it participated in a joint operation with the Golani Brigade against Syrian positions in the Golan Heights in retaliation for Syrian firing on Israeli fishermen. While the Golani force was successful, the Shayetet 13 force failed to complete its mission, a raid on a Syrian post in Kursi, and retreated without casualties after coming under fire. The fiasco became known as "Operation Rabbit".
In August 1966, the unit was given the mission of retrieving the wreckage of a Syrian Air Force MiG that had been shot down and crashed into the Sea of Galilee. Near the end of the operation, Syrian troops opened fire, and the salvage rope attached to the aircraft was dropped. The Syrians were later able to pick it up and drag their aircraft to safety.
Six-Day War
During the 1967 Six-Day War, the unit was tasked with neutralizing enemy fleets. Shayetet 13 commandos infiltrated Port Said, but found no ships there, and during a raid into Alexandria, six divers were captured and taken prisoner, and released in January 1968. Several other missions also failed.In July 1967, Shayetet 13 commandos crossed the Suez Canal and blew up an Egyptian rail line in two places. The operation was carried out in retaliation for Egyptian shelling.
Operation Barak was an Israeli naval mission to fly the flag in the Suez Canal carried out in July 1967, following Egyptian artillery attacks and firing on Israeli ships in the Suez Canal. Shayetet 13 participated in the operation. The operation was carried out in daylight, and the Egyptians opened fire from their positions, sinking a boat.
War of Attrition
Shayetet 13 saw extensive action in the War of Attrition. It carried out repeated commando raids in the Suez Canal area, often assisting Sayeret Matkal. Throughout 1969 the unit carried out a series of land-based mining, maritime patrol, and sabotage missions. On the night of June 21, 1969, Shayetet 13 carried out Operation Frenzy 5. After a preliminary reconnaissance mission by a Shayetet 13 team a month before, a force of commandos attacked an Egyptian guard post after landing from the sea, killing 32 Egyptian soldiers and blowing up five buildings, with the only Israeli casualties being two commandos slightly injured.In July 1969, the unit successfully carried out the Green Island raid in cooperation with Sayeret Matkal. Three of the six Israeli soldiers killed during the operation were Shayetet 13 operatives. The Egyptians lost approximately 80 soldiers. On September 7, 1969, Shayetet 13 carried out Operation Escort, raiding the Egyptian anchorage at Ras Sadat and destroying a pair of Egyptian P-183 torpedo-boats. Three commandos were killed on the way back from the mission when one of their charges detonated. Escort, nevertheless, allowed the IDF to carry out Operation Raviv, a highly successful 10-hour raid on Egypt's Red Sea coast.
During the 1970s, the unit underwent a reorganization, with more emphasis placed on sea-to-land incursions and on effective training. More issues rose with other IDF Special Forces units, which at the time suggested that Shayetet 13 should only provide the transportation to the target and assistance in crossing water obstacles, while leaving the surface warfare to the other IDF Special Forces units.
Operation Blanket
In 1970, in response to the persecution of Syrian Jews and their efforts to flee to Israel, the Israeli government launched Operation Blanket to bring them to Israel. In an operation directed by the Mossad lasting a few years, Shayetet 13 commandos and Mossad agents made dozens of clandestine incursions into Syria, with the participants having to resort to living undercover in Damascus. The operation succeeded in bringing only a few dozen young Jews to Israel.Operation Wrath of God
Shayetet 13 took part in Operation Spring of Youth in 1973, in which Israeli special forces raided Beirut and killed several members of Black September, the terrorist group which carried out the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes in the Munich 1972 Summer Olympics. The Shayetet 13 force that participated in the operation landed in north Beirut and destroyed a small Fatah explosives workshop.Yom Kippur War
During the Yom Kippur War, Shayetet 13 commandos infiltrated Egyptian ports numerous times, sinking five Egyptian naval vessels and heavily damaging another. Two commandos went missing during one of the raids.Lebanon
Operation Bardas 20 took place on January 14, 1971, to neutralize a guerrilla base in Lebanon, near Sidon, where about two dozen militants were training as frogmen. During the operation, the commandos destroyed some of the camp's buildings, and a number of guerrillas were wounded, including commander Abu Youssef.Shayetet 13, Unit 707, and Sayeret Tzanhanim commandos jointly raided guerrilla bases in Nahr al-Bared and Beddawi on February 19, 1973, in Operation Bardas 54–55. During the operation, about 40 guerrillas were killed and 60 wounded, and a Turkish military trainer was taken prisoner.
In the years following the Yom Kippur War, Shayetet 13 carried out various missions against guerrilla boats and those who assisted them, with mediocre success. During Operation Litani in 1978, Shayetet 13 carried out ambushes, killing a senior enemy commander in one of them. From 1979 to 1981, the unit carried out 22 successful raids against guerrilla targets in Lebanon. The successes resulted in a unit decoration. In one notable raid on April 19, 1980, Shayetet 13 commandos raided the base of a guerrilla organization that according to intelligence was planning an attack on a community in Israel, killing about 15 guerrillas, including the commander of the would-be infiltration unit and two of its members, and two structures were destroyed. Several commandos were wounded.
During the 1982 Lebanon War, Shayetet 13 commandos participated in securing a beachhead for an Israeli amphibious landing north of Sidon. Two teams of commandos landed, one of which swam to the mouth of the Awali River and another which came ashore on the landing beach in rubber dinghies. The commandos engaged in a brief battle with armed Palestinians and enabled Israeli armor and infantry to land. The unit also carried out three raids on PLO targets in Beirut, and carried out several other raids and ambushes during the war. Shayetet 13 was also responsible for stopping ships that were ferrying weapons out of the country to Italy, including Yasser Arafat's personal boat.
From the early 1980s the unit became increasingly involved in the Lebanon conflict, demonstrating an excellent track record of dozens of successful operations each year and inflicting heavy losses on Hezbollah in terms of casualties and equipment destroyed.
Typical missions at the time were interdiction of guerrilla vessels, blowing up enemy headquarters and key facilities, conducting ambushes and planting explosives on guerrilla routes.
On November 25, 1988, the unit, along with other forces, conducted a raid on the Headquarters of PFLP-GC, with the aim of killing its leader Ahmad Jibril. However, the raid failed and an officer was killed and several Israeli commandos were wounded. Jibril arranged a press conference at the base, brandishing the personal weapon of the killed IDF officer. The IDF estimated that 20 guerrillas were killed in the raid, although the Palestinians only conceded eight. Israeli military analyst Ronen Bergman described the operation as an "embarrassing flop".