Today, in 1973, the IDF carried out Operation Spring of Youth.
This operation was an adjunct to Operation God’s Wrath – Israel’s response to the Palestinian attacks of the early 70s, particularly the Munich Olympics massacre in September 1972. The operation was most often expressed in the assassinations of senior terrorists by the Mossad throughout Europe; but in April 1973, the government decided to carry out a much more ambitious operation – an attack on the PLO compound that included the residence of hundreds of operatives, senior officials and commanders in Beirut, Lebanon. The operation was carried out by the forces of Sayeret Matkal under the command of Emanuel Shaked and Amnon Lifkin-Shahak, including Yoni Netanyahu and Ehud Barak; the forces (dozens of soldiers) landed on the Beirut coast at night, disguised as civilians, arrived at the compound and attacked it. A real battle ensued, and the IDF lost two soldiers; close to a hundred terrorists were killed (including Kamal Adwan, one of the Fatah leaders), and most of the compound was blown up and destroyed. The operation was very successful from a moral point of view, and severely damaged the PLO, but was not enough to prevent its growing entrenchment in Lebanon.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
