Tyre raid

2006 Tyre raid
Part of 2006 Lebanon War

An IDF Shayetet 13 filmed during the operation in Tyre.
DateAugust 5, 2006
LocationTyre, Lebanon
Result Both sides claimed victory
Belligerents
Israel Israel Defense Forces Hezbollah
Casualties and losses
None killed
10 soldiers wounded		 At least 1 killed[1]
7-10 killed (IDF claim)
1 Lebanese soldier and 4 civilians killed (Lebanese claim)

The Tyre raid was a night mission by the Israel Defense Forces naval commando unit, Shayetet 13, in Tyre, South Lebanon, on August 5, 2006. The target was an apartment building, allegedly housing Hezbollah leaders responsible for the rocket attack on Hadera a day earlier. The entire operation lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes.[2]

The raid

Lebanese sources reported that the IDF commando forces arrived in helicopters around 1:00 a.m. and landed in an orange grove near the city's northern environs. The troops cut through a fence and opened fire on a second floor apartment of an apartment building, which was the apparent target of the raid. The apartment was hit by fire, and eyewitnesses reported its occupants were wounded.[3]

The raid failed to achieve its target, the kidnapping or killing of senior Hezbollah officers.[4][5] IDF nevertheless claimed victory and stated that it had stopped a long-range rocket Hezbollah unit. Hezbollah claimed it had thwarted the attack.[6] Hezbollah however resumed rocket launching from the site within hours of the raid.[1]

When withdrawing from the building exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah gunmen erupted, with Israeli Air Force helicopter gunships providing the soldiers on the ground with fire-support. The clashes were described by Hezbollah spokesman as an "ambush".[7]

At least one Hezbollah fighter was killed in the raid. The apartment building was bombed into rubble by an Israeli jet later in the afternoon. According to Lebanon sources one Lebanese army soldier and at least four civilians were killed in the raid.[8] According to the IDF "at least six",[9] seven[3] or ten[10] Hezbollah fighters were killed in the clashes while 10 IDF soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously.

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blanford (2011), pp. 393-94
  2. ↑ Yaakov Katz (26 June 2012). "Naval Commandos Raid Tyre". JPost.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Efrat Weiss (08.05.06). "10 soldiers hurt in raid on Tyre". Yedioth Ahronoth. Retrieved Jan 18, 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ Pedahzur, Ami, The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism, Columbia University Press, 2010, p. 132
  5. ↑ Amos Harel (01.06.2010). "Elite Shayetet unit often carries army's heaviest, most secretive burdens". Retrieved Jan 23, 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ "Israeli claim of 11 Hezbollah fighters killed in battle". AP. 5 August 2006. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ Agence France Presse (AFP) (August 5, 2006). "Hezbollah says it foiled Israel commando raid on Tyre". Daily Star. Retrieved Jan 18, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Israeli commandos stage Tyre raid". BBC. 5 August 2006. Retrieved Jan 18, 2012.
  9. ↑ Amos Harel (06.08.2006). "Commando raid in Tyre kills senior Hezbollah operatives". Haaretz. Retrieved Jan 23, 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑ Efrat Weiss (08.05.2006). "Tyre raid ‘heroic operation’". Yedioth Ahronoth. Retrieved Jan 18, 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)