Operation Sharp and Smooth

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Part of 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

An IDF commando filmed during the operation in Baalbek.

Date	August 1 - August 2, 2006 and 19 August
Location	Near Baalbek, Lebanon
Result	Unclear

Combatants

Israel

Hezbollah

Strength

200

Unknown

Casualties

Israel claimed killing 19 Hezbollah fighter, and capturing 5 civilians (later released)

According to Lebanese security sources the 19 victims are also civilian, among them one Syrian and seven members from the same family^[1].

Military operations of the 2006 Lebanon War
Zar'it-Shtula – Baliste – Bint Jbeil – Qana – Ayta ash-Shab – Baalbek – al-Qaa – Tyre – Shiyyah – Ghaziyeh – Marjayoun – Litani

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Operation Sharp and Smooth, also known as the Baalbek operation, was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid on a Hezbollah-run hospital in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Late on the night of August 1, Israeli special operations forces entered the valley, retrieved “loads of intelligence information,” and captured five people, several of whom the IDF claimed were Hezbollah gunmen^[2], on the other hand, Hezbollah insists that the prisoners are civilians, neither combatants nor members of Hezbollah party^[3] ^[4]. On 21 August 2006, the Israeli forces acknowledged that the Lebanese prisoners are civilians and released them.^[5]

1 The operation
2 Flare- up August 9
3 The second raid 19 August
4 See also
5 Footnotes
6 Sources

[edit] The operation

The operation began with at least five rapid air strikes. Approximately 200 elite commandos fast-roped from helicopters which refuelled over the Mediterranean Sea. The operation involved 2 units, one affiliated with the Israeli Air Force and the other with the IDF branch of Intelligence (Aman). ^[2] Upon landing the units split, Sayeret Matkal assigned to take Dar al-Hikma hospital - believed by Military Intelligence to be a base for Iranian Revolutionary Guards. A Hezbollah source said several Israeli soldiers were trapped in the hospital, engaged in fierce clashes with the group of fighters who surrounded the facility.

"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital and they are trapped inside,"^[6]

Hussein Rahal, a Hezbollah spokesman, said. He added that Israeli jets were attacking the surrounding Hezbollah forces with rockets. The Israeli military refused to comment.

The unit from the air force, Shaldag, swept through the Sheikh Havit neighborhood, some three kilometers from the hospital. There, Shaldag found five people it suspected to be Hezbollah members, and took them captive.

The troops traveled the 200 km. to Baalbek by helicopters, which were refueled over the Mediterranean, and had air cover from attack helicopters and jet fighters. The troops were on the ground in Baalbek from 10:32 p.m. Tuesday until 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Israel's military released video that it said proved a hospital it raided over night deep inside Lebanon was actually a Hezbollah headquarters.

Despite IDF claims that the captured individuals are Hezbollah fighters, Hezbollah insists that they are civilians^[3] ^[4], with one of them having the same name of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, which raised the suspicions (according to Al-Jazeera Correspondent) on the scene that the operation was meant to kidnap or kill Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah^[7] .

It subsequently was confirmed that the captives were civilians and were all later released, including Hassan Nasrallah the plasterer.^[8]

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech televised August 3, 2006, claimed the operation was a grave intelligence fiasco for the IDF.

[edit] Flare- up August 9

In the eastern Bekaa Valley five people were reported killed and two feared dead after an Israeli air raid. ^[9]

On August 10 an Israeli unmanned drone fired a missile on a minibus driving in the Bekaa Valley, thus killing one person and wounding 12. The attack happened near the town of Rayak.^[10].

[edit] The second raid 19 August

Israeli forces tried to penetrate the Hezbollah town Boudai about 3 a.m., swooping in on helicopters deep into the Bekaa Valley 60 miles from the Israeli border. The Israeli military later said the commandos were trying to interdict Iranian weapons being smuggled to guerrillas from Syria. ^[11]
The raid by Israeli commandos was carried out by officers from Israel's General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), also known as "The Unit". It is considered as the IDFs most elite special forces unit. Its primary function is to penetrate deep into enemy territory to gather field intelligence^[12].
- Residents who would speak to a reporter speculated that the Israelis were really trying to capture Sheik Mohammed Yazbeck, a member of Hezbollah's highest decision-making body, the Shura Council, who hails from Boudai. "They came here for Yazbeck," said 41-year-old Mustafa Ayoub who lives in Saaydeh, the next town south. "He's from here, but he's not here now. It's possible Yazbeck was here. But I don't know. It's very difficult to know these things."^[11]
- The Israelis lost one soldier and one later died of his wounds. Three Hezbollah fighters were wounded.[[1]]The Israelis landed their commandos, a jeep and a Humvee on a hill outside town, then drove toward the village center, witnesses said. "I think that when Hezbollah confronted them, they changed their route. They were trying to go to a school -- a government school -- but they couldn't make it, so they drove through here," said Arabic teacher Fawzi Chamas, 50, pointing to wheat and tobacco fields. The apparent target was a school rumored to be owned by Yazbeck. But the newly built facility -- with a locked gate and dirt still piled around it from construction -- bore a yellow sign outside and no Hezbollah flags: "Boudai School. Owner: The Republic of Lebanon."^[11]
- About 10 Hezbollah fighters initially confronted the Israelis, but some 300 townspeople heard the roar of helicopters, grabbed their guns and joined the fight. "All the sky seemed like a cloud of planes, and all -- not only Hezbollah -- fought. All the people in the village brought their guns to fight. Fifteen year-old boys brought guns," said Suzanne Mazloun, 22, wife of Boudai's mayor, Suleiman Chamas. Realizing they were outgunned, the Israelis swerved into tobacco and wheat fields nearby and were picked up by helicopters. Israel said one special forces officer was killed and two soldiers were injured, one seriously. "They left lots of blood, bandages and syringes," said Mohammed Kanan, 36, pointing to a wheat field, where wads of tissues and white bandages were stained with what appeared to be blood.^[11]