Operation Wooden Leg
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| Operation Wooden Leg | |||||||||
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| Part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict | |||||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||||
 Israeli Air Force |
 Palestinian Liberation Organization |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 8 F-15s, 8 F-16s | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties | |||||||||
| None | 60 killed (Tunisians and Palestinians), 100+ injured | ||||||||
Operation Wooden Leg was the Israeli codename for an October 1, 1985 Israeli Air Force raid on the Palestinian Liberation Organization's headquarters in Hammam al-Shatt, Tunisia, twelve miles from the capital of Tunis.
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[edit] Background
On September 25, 1985, three Israeli civilians were killed on their yacht off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus. An elite section of the PLO known as "Force 17" claimed the attack. The Israeli cabinet and the Israeli Air Force desired immediate retaliation, and chose the Tunis headquarters of the PLO as their target.
The PLO had been based in Tunisia after it was routed from Lebanon three years earlier, in the 1982 Lebanon War. At that time, Israel invaded Lebanon and drove the PLO out in an attempt to put an end to continued rocket attacks, launched from southern Lebanon into Israel.
[edit] The Operation
The strike, dubbed "Wooden Leg" by the IAF, was carried out by eight F-16 Fighting Falcons, with eight F-15 Eagles serving as backup and escorts. At 07:00 on October 1, the F-15s took off for Tunisia, the F-16s forty minutes later. Taking place 1,280 miles (3,000 km) away, this was the furthest operation from Israel undertaken by the Israeli Defense Forces since the 1976 Entebbe Operation in Uganda. A Boeing 707 refueled the craft in mid-flight over the Mediterranean Sea in order to allow the operation to be executed over such a distance.
The Israeli planes dropped precision-guided bombs on the seaside headquarters of the PLO. Helicopters were available from a naval vessel near Malta to recover downed pilots, but were unneeded in the end. Following the airstrike, the F-16s were escorted home by the reserve F-15s.
The PLO headquarters were destroyed, though Yasser Arafat, head of the organization, was not there at the time and escaped unharmed. Israel claimed that some 60 PLO members had been killed, including several leaders of Force 17. The IAF also said it took great pains to avoid civilian casualties, though the PLO and Tunisian government claimed some civilians had been killed.
[edit] Aftermath
The attack provoked a strong outcry, even in the United States, Israel's strongest ally. Though initially labeling the strike a "legitimate response" to terror, the Reagan administration later said the attack "cannot be condoned." The attack also soured relations between the U.S. and the Tunisian president, Habib Bourguiba, as well as throwing a wrench into negotiations between Israel and Egypt over control of the border-town of Taba. Though Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres was quoted as saying "It was an act of self-defense. Period," many in Arab nations and in the West expressed the opinion that this was an intentional attempt to destroy the peace process, and to threaten the Arab world by displaying the range and power of Israel's military.
Arabs protested the attack around the world, and the UN Security Council denounced the attack 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining.
Operation Wooden Leg is regarded as having little effect on terrorism. The raid was used as justification for a number of attacks, including the seizure of the Achille Lauro cruise ship on October 7, and the Abu Nidal attacks on airports in Rome and Vienna in December 1985. Many commentators outside Israel expressed the belief that the air raid was conducted mainly for psychological reasons, as it did not hinder the PLO.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Security Council Resolution condemning raid - Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- isayeret.com - The Israeli Special Forces Database
- 1985 press conference on attack - Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The Long Reach of the IAF
- Smith, William E. "Middle East Israel's 1,500-Mile Raid." TIME Magazine, 14 October 1985.
