Operation Wooden Leg

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Operation Wooden Leg
date October 1, 1985
place Tunis , Tunisia
Casus Belli Terrorist attack in Larnaca , Cyprus
output
Parties to the conflict

IsraelIsrael Israel

Plo emblem.png PLO

Troop strength
8 F-15s, 8 F-16s unknown
losses

no

60 Tunisians and Palestinians killed, over 100 injured

Operation Wooden Leg was an attack by the Israeli Air Force on the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Tunis , Tunisia on October 1, 1985 .

background

One of the aims of the Israeli invasion in Lebanon , was the PLO to expel from Lebanon. The PLO had repeatedly fired rockets at Israel from the south of the country. The Israeli operation achieved this goal, and in August 1982 the PLO soldiers began to leave Lebanon in ships. Yasser Arafat wanted another country to serve as a base for the PLO and settled in Tunisia.

On September 25, 1985, three Israeli civilians were killed on their yacht off the coast of Larnaka , Cyprus . An elite division of the PLO, known as Force 17 , claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. The Israeli cabinet and the Israeli air force immediately demanded retaliation and selected the PLO headquarters in Tunis .

The operation

The blow, dubbed the "Wooden Leg" by the Israeli Air Force (IAF), was carried out by eight F-16s . These were accompanied by eight other F-15 Eagles, which were responsible for cover from the air. The F-15s took off at dawn from a base in northern Israel for Tunisia, followed by the F-16s about 40 minutes later. Since the aircraft's destination was around 3,000 km away, the aircraft had to be refueled several times over the Mediterranean by IAF tankers in the air . While the F-15s waited around 500 km from the target, the F-16s went low to avoid radar detection. An Israeli military ship stood ready in front of Malta to rescue pilots who had been shot down by helicopter in an emergency.

Without resistance from the North African air defenses or the Tunisian air force , the Israeli F-16s attacked the PLO headquarters by the sea ​​with bombs and missiles . Arafat was not present at the time of the Israeli attack. Israel, however, described the operation as a success, killing more than 60 PLO members, including some Force 17 leaders, in the attack. The Israeli Air Force said it had gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. Even so, both the PLO and the Tunisian government claimed that some civilians were among the victims.

After the attack, the Israeli attackers were refueled in the air and escorted back to Israel by the F-15 Eagle.

consequences

The attack provoked a loud outcry even from the United States , Israel's strongest ally. Although initially calling the blow a "legitimate response", the Reagan administration later said that the attack "cannot be approved". After the attack, relations between the US and Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba deteriorated .

The Arabs protested around the world and the UN Security Council condemned the attack at 14 against zero, with the US abstaining.

Operation “Wooden Leg” is seen as ineffective against terrorism . The attack was used as a justification for a number of attacks, including the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro on October 7th and the Abu Nidal attacks on the airports in Vienna Schwechat and Rome in December 1985. It was believed that the air strike was mainly was conducted for psychological reasons, as it did not hinder the PLO to any major extent.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Middle East Israel's 1,500-Mile Raid , Time Magazine, October 14, 1985.

Web links