Battle of Sultan Yacoub
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The Battle of Sultan Yacoub was a battle between
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
during the
1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...
, which occurred near the village of Sultan Yacoub in the Lebanese
Bekaa The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
, close to the borders with Syria.


Background

At the beginning of the invasion Israeli Brig. Gen.
Giora Lev Giora Lev (born 30 June 1939) ( he, גיורא לב) was the 7th mayor of Petah Tikva (1989-1998) and Brigadier-general in the Israel Defense Forces. He was born in Haifa and studied in Kadoorie Agricultural High School. Once conscripted, he j ...
’s 90th Division passed through
Marjayoun Marjayoun ( ar, مرج عيون: Lebanese pronunciation), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a Lebanese town and an administrative district, the Marjeyoun District, in ...
and took up positions around
Kaukaba Kaukaba, Kaukabet El-Arab or Kaukaba Station is a village in the Hasbaya District in the Nabatiye Governorate in southern Lebanon. Archaeology By the village is a Neolithic archaeological site East of Majdel Balhis near Rashaya in the Beqaa ...
and
Hasbaiya Hasbeya or Hasbeiya ( ar, حاصبيا) is a town in Lebanon, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani. In 1911, the population was about 5000. Hasbaya is the capital of the Wad ...
. From there it began to push the Syrian 76th and 91st Armored Brigade, of the 10th Division, north up the Bekaa Valley towards
Joub Jannine Joub Jannine ( / ALA-LC: ''Jub Jannīn'') is located in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. Joub Jannine is the capital of West Beqaa. It is a town and the center of the Western Beqaa District, hosting the Grand Serail, Serail, which is a main governme ...
. The Syrians made skillful use of their
Gazelle helicopter A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...
s to support the delaying action, firing
HOT Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places * Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand **Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...
missiles into the long columns of Israeli vehicles stretched out along the roads. Israel countered with its own Cobra helicopters, used against both ground targets and the Gazelles.


Battle

On June 10 the Israeli 90th Division was rushed forward in order to gain as much ground as possible before the cease-fire came into effect. Late that night most of its 362nd Battalion as well as Pluga Kaph from the 363rd Battalion fought its way through Syrian infantry in the village of Sultan Yacoub only to become cut off and surrounded. At dawn, the Israelis broke out and escaped to the south with the support of 11 battalions of artillery firing both at the Syrians and in a box barrage around their own troops. In the six-hours ordeal the
Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...
lost 10 tanks and about 30 killed. The Israelis failed to destroy the disabled M48A3 Magach-3 tanks they left behind and they were recovered the next day by the Syrians.


Aftermath

Thirty IDF soldiers died in the battle, which was viewed as an Israeli
intelligence failure Failure in the intelligence cycle or intelligence failure, is the outcome of the inadequacies within the intelligence cycle. The intelligence cycle itself consists of six steps that are constantly in motion. The six steps are: requirements, coll ...
. Five IDF soldiers were missing in action: Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz, Zvi Feldman, Ariel Lieberman, and
Hezi Shai Hezi Shai ( he, חזי שי, born 1954) is a former tank commander in the Israeli Defense Forces. During the 1982 Lebanon War, he was one of five Israeli soldiers declared missing in action after their tanks were hit during the Battle of Sulta ...
. The first three soldiers were reportedly paraded through Damascus atop their captured tank; ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' reporter
Dean Brelis Dean Brelis (April 1, 1924 – November 17, 2006) was a journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for NBC, CBS and Time magazine and wrote novels and nonfiction books. He was born Constantinos Christos Brelis in Newport, Rhode Island to G ...
testified to having seen the three captives alive at the time. Baumel's body was recovered in a secret military operation in 2019. Lieberman was returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange in June 1984. Feldman and Katz remain missing in action. Tank commander Hezi Shai was presumed dead by the Israeli defense establishment. Two and a half years later, his whereabouts were discovered in
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
, where he was being held by the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين – القيادة العامة) or PFLP-GC is a Palestinian nationalist militant organisation based in Syria. ...
(PFLP-GC), a pro-Syria Palestinian militant organization led by
Ahmed Jibril Ahmed Jibril ( ar, أحمد جبريل; April 1937 – 7 July 2021) was a Palestinian militant, the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC). During the Syrian Civil War, Jibril wa ...
. Shai's repatriation was negotiated together with that of two other captured Israeli soldiers, Yosef Grof and Nissim Salem, through mediator and Austrian diplomat Dr. Herbert Amry, in return for 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners being held by Israel. Shai was returned to Israel in May 1985.


Legacy

The battle is still widely commemorated and remembered in Syria. A large painting depicting the battle is displayed in the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is a monument dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all soldiers killed in war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-prof ...
in
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
, among other paintings depicting other significant battles in Arab and Syrian history, and one of the Israeli M48 Patton tanks captured during the battle is now on display at the
October War Panorama The October War Panorama ( ar, بانوراما حرب تشرين) is a National museum located in Damascus, Syria which commemorates the memory of the 1973 October War between Egypt and Syria against Israel from a Syrian perspective. History ...
in Damascus, with another on display in the
Kubinka Tank Museum The Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники - Tsentral'nyy Muzey Bronetankovogo Vooruzheniya I Tekhniki -Central Museum of Armored Arms and Technology) is a larg ...
in Russia, most likely donated by Syria due to their extremely-close bilateral ties.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Sultan Yacoub 1982 Lebanon War Sultan Yacoub Sultan Yacoub