Sayeret Matkal Unit: Elite Israeli Army Unit Faces Setbacks in Missions, Notable Members Revealed

The Sayeret Matkal unit is one of the elite forces units in the Israeli army complex operations “behind enemy lines.”

It was founded by a Haganah officer, Avraham Arnan, in 1957, and despite the secrecy that surrounded it, it was revealed that many senior military and political leaders served there, such as Naftali Bennett, Moshe Yaalon , Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shaul Mofaz, David Barnea, and Shlimi Binder.

Israeli analysts talked about the great failure of Sayeret Matkal in carrying out his tasks, because he – neither he nor the rest of the Israeli intelligence services – was able to anticipate and anticipate the Al-Aqsa flood operation which opposed Palestine on the settlements. around the Gaza Strip at the beginning of October 7, 2023, which continued with the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

This is reminiscent of a similar failure suffered by the unit in 2018, when its commando forces invaded the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza and tried to plant a listening device on a communications network against, but the operation was discovered, and the commando leader was killed and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) was defeated on “Treasure of information “.

Establishment and objectives

The Sayeret Matkal Unit was founded in 1957 by Officer Abraham Arnan, and during the stages of history it was known as Unit 269 and Unit 262, and its motto was “The bold is the one who will win.”

Arnan integrated into the Palmach veteran unit, Unit 101 and Paratroopers unit veterans, Intelligence Corps veterans, and kibbutzim members.

Despite achieving many security functions, Sayeret Matkal did not officially join the Israeli army until the late 1980s, coinciding with the beginning of the first Palestinian Intifada.

Sayeret Matkal is one of the most organized and best equipped units in the Israeli Tikva army.

In peacetime, the unit’s primary objective is to gather intelligence and plant intelligence.

Soldiers of the Sayeret Matkal unit are selected and undergo rigorous and specialized training (Shutterstock)

Training and recruitment

Candidates who work in the Sayeret Matkal unit go through a course of tests that are carried out among the Israeli army units that are difficult to join, and are tested to ensure physical and psychological safety and level of carrying capacity. out the complex tasks that will be assigned to them.

Based on a complete report on each individual, the General Staff decides to accept or reject into the unit, and those rejected will be transferred to other military units.

The training that is carried out by those who are accepted is for a period of 16 months, and it includes paratroopers, search, direction finding and identification of places, facing difficult situations and situations, and the ability to seize after passing the training officially into the unit, and the fighters within it must sign a contract for a period of at least 36 months.

After their service period, some members of the unit move to its reserve levels, while others go to work in Israel’s Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad).

Flags and emblems

Despite the secrecy surrounding it, the Sayeret Matkal unit was associated with the names of many famous people in Israel, some of whom held political positions, including:

The founder of the unit, he was born on December 29, 1930 in Jerusalem. Israeli army in 1949.

After being sent to the reserve troops, he benefited from an advanced course for infantry officers and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1951. He then returned to service again and was transferred to the intelligence service, and during this time he founded the Sayeret Matkal unit.

Arnan rose through the military ranks until he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1962. He participated in the Six Day War and trained with the Marines in the United States.

In conjunction with his military work, he also pursued postgraduate studies, learned the languages ​​of Arabic, Persian, English, French and Italian, and worked as a consultant on terrorism issues in the Office of ‘Prime Minister suffering from illness.

• Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister of Israel, born on October 21, 1949 in Jaffa.

He joined the Sayeret Matkal unit in 1967 to do compulsory service in the army, and his service period there lasted 5 years, during which he rose to the rank of captain.

Netanyahu ended his service in the unit after being injured in the shoulder while taking part in a military operation at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, where he was part of the group that stormed it Belgian plane hijacked by Black September guerrillas on May 8, 1972.

A former prime minister of the Israeli government and a soldier with the rank of brigadier general, he was born on February 12, 1942 in the settlement of Mishmar Hasharon.

He led the Sayeret Matkal unit in the early 1970s, and was part of the team that assassinated the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization: Abu Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser in Beirut in 1973.

He was born on March 29, 1965 in Ashkelon, the head of Israel’s Mossad.

He entered the Israeli army in 1983 through the Sayeret Matkal unit, and from there he moved to work in knowledge.

The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Department, he was born in February 1975 in the city of Haifa.

Among the members and leaders of the Sayeret Matkal unit were Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Ministers Moshe Ya’alon and Shaul Mofaz, and others.

The most prominent named activities

Among the most famous works carried out by the unit:

• His first job was in Lebanon in 1962, and Israel describes it as a special and successful mission.
• A mission was carried out in Syria less than 6 months after the date of the first mission, and it was led by Ehud Barak It was also described by Israel as unique and successful, and details were not disclosed about these two works.
• October 6th War: During the October 6th War, 1973 (Israel calls it the Yom Kippur War) The Sayeret Matkal unit took part in the fighting Sinai Mostly.
• Operation Lod Airport: It happened on May 9, 1972, in which the soldiers of the unit attacked a Belgian passenger plane that was held by Palestinian fighters with about 100 passengers on board. who was allowed to feed the prisoners, Two of the four guerrillas were killed in action, and some soldiers and passengers were wounded, while the Red Cross accused Israel of breaking the treaty that does not allow it to attack the hijackers while their agents are on the plane.
• Kidnapping of Syrian intelligence officers: In 1972, commanders from the Sayeret Matkal unit kidnapped Syrian intelligence officers from southern Lebanon.To negotiate the release of Israeli pilots imprisoned in Syria.
• Assassination of a group of Palestinian Liberation Organization leaders in April 1973 in Lebanon: Abu Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Nasser, and Kamal Adwan.
• Operation Entebbe Airport: It happened on July 4, 1976 at Entebbe Airport in Uganda the hijackers, 3 enemies, and some Ugandan soldiers.
• The unit also carried out many other operations outside the borders of Palestine, which Israel hides hard.

A scene from Israeli special forces training (Israeli army)

aInformation failures

Although Sayeret Matkal is considered one of the most trained and effective Israeli military units in carrying out complex intelligence operations, it has failed miserably in many tasks, including:

• Operation “Edge of the Sword”

On November 11, 2018, a surveillance unit attached to Al-Qassam Brigades thwarted an infiltration operation carried out by commanders from the Sayeret Matkal unit with the aim of planting ear devices on the resistance’s communication network in the Khan Yunis area of ​​the Gaza Strip.

Although the commandos were fluent in the Palestinian dialect and impersonating a family from the Gaza Strip and riding a bus with bus specifications belonging to the said family and carrying cards with the names of its members, the way of the bus the investigation group suspects that they are suspects and are being taken for investigation, which made one of the commandos to open fire and the conflict started.

The unit’s commander, Colonel Mahmoud Khair al-Din, whose identity was revealed by the Qassam Brigades shortly after the operation, was killed in the operation – which Al-Qassam called “Edge of the Sword.” The post confirmed this information 3 years later, and 6 members of the Al-Qassam Brigades were also killed.

The Israeli aircraft intervened to place a cordon of fire ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​shipped the group to be evacuated via a military helicopter They also returned to bombard the bus and the rest of the equipment on board. left to destroy the earth.

However, the Qassam Brigades obtained tools and documents that revealed important information about the commando squad, its mission, the instructions given to it since its launch, the route of the journey, the names of its members, their training locations, registrations surveillance camera on. the bus, and other information that the Qassam Brigades described as “treasure.”

In addition to not finding the preparation of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades for the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, like the rest of the Israeli intelligence units, Sayeret Matkal was one of the targets in the operation that took place . on October 7, 2023.

According to an investigative report published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, it was revealed that Al-Qassam was able to decode the radio devices of the members of the unit and collect information about the army headquarters, gaps in the fence, and the adjacent electronic warning system. the security fence.

By deceiving and deceiving Israeli intelligence with its various arms, Hamas was able to secure protection against infiltration attempts, monitor the communications network of the elite forces affiliated with the Group- Qassam army.

This is what led Israeli analysts to link the success of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation to the failure of the November 11, 2018 operation, and some of them described the Israeli intelligence services as completely blind to the intentions of Hamas.

Although rescuing the guards is one of the main tasks of the Sayeret Matkal unit and the main objective of the war on Gaza after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the unit did not succeed in achieving that.