Draft:Bmaryamin Ambush

The Bmaryamin Ambush was a military engagement during the 2006 Lebanon War in which Hezbollah Nasr Unit had ambushed the IDF 98th Paratroopers Division led by Col. Hagai Mordechai as they landed at Bmaryamin. The Bmaryamin landing was supposed to be the largest heliborne operation in the history of the IDF Preparation for the landing, however due to the ambush and one Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion being shot down only 200 paratroopers managed to land safely in which they had to retreat from Bmaryamin after a couple of days.

Preparation for the landing
The Paratrooper Division began carrying out preparatory tasks on the night of 8–9 August. IDF forces occupied the Christian village of Dibil, situated to the north of Ayta ash-Sha’b (which was surrounded but still unoccupied) in the central sector. An engineering unit hid in a building in the outskirts of the village but was spotted by Hizbullah scouts and was hit by two missiles fired from Ayta ash-Sha’b. Nine soldiers were killed and 31 wounded. None of them had even fired a single bullet.

The division was ordered to proceed north to the Shiite village of Rashaf, occupy it and open a supply route to the area. The village was eventually occupied but the supply route was not secured. When the cease fire came into effect, the division had advanced about a mile northwards.

Brigadier General Gal Hirsch’s Division 91 was ordered to move west from its positions north of Bint Jbeil towards the Mediterranean coast. "The action proved chaotic" and the operation "fell far short of the mark" by war’s end.

According to the Winograd Commission Division 91 was commissioned with the task of occupying the remaining Hizbullah strongholds near the border, such as Bint Jbeil and Ayta ash-Sha'b. The Report gives no details but notes that both towns remained in Hizbullah hands.

The Alexandroni brigade fought in the western sector. The brigade finally took up position along the coastal road near Mansouri after an operation that took eight days rather than the planned 36 hours. The soldiers suffered hard from lack of food and water and dozens collapsed from dehydration and had to be evacuated. The brigade commander Maj. Nati Barak decided not to send his soldiers after Hizbullah fighters hiding in the nearby village. "I have mercy on my soldiers' lives," Barak said. IDF forces managed to advance about one mile north of al-Mansouri by the time the war ended on 14 August.

Paratroopers land at Bmaryamin
Friday evening the paratroop brigade under the command of Col. Hagai Mordechai was airlifted to the Bmaryamin plain outside the villages of Yatar and Kafra. For some reason the landing took place much to the south than what was originally planned. According to Harel and Issacharoff the immediate target was the occupation of "village of Jabel-Amal" (probably a mistranslation referring to the town of Yatar in the district of Jabal 'Amil). Yatar was described as "the headquarters of the [Hizbullah] Nasr unit's Second Territorial Subdivision." The mission was to significantly reduce the rocket fire being launched from the area..

Optimism was booming in the Israeli Army Command. According to intelligence estimates Hizbullah was withdrawing. During the night Defence Minister Amir Peretz called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Listen, Hezbollah’s in trouble," Peretz said excitedly to Olmert. "Believe me, there’s never been a flight like this in history. Everything’s going great. If it continues like this, it’ll be spectacular."

When the first Yas’ur (CH-53 Sea Stallion) helicopter took off, after unloading its soldiers, it was hit by a missile and burst into flames and the crew of five was killed instantly. The helicopter was probably shot down with a shoulder-fired, infrared guided SA-7 missile. Five Israeli crew members were killed, including two senior officers and Sgt.-Maj. Keren Tendler, the only female IDF soldier to die in the war.

The Bmaryamin landing was supposed to be the largest heliborne operation in the history of the IDF. After the downing of the helicopter it was apparent that the landing zone had been compromised and that Hizbullah had prepared ambushes in the area. Headquarters decided to call off further landings. Paratroop commander Col. Hagai Mordechai was ordered not to proceed to the target but to abort the mission and hide at the landing zone until next nightfall. More than 200 Paratroopers had landed safely and Mordechai deemed this to be sufficient to carry out the original orders. Instead a precious 24 hours were lost. The next night the mission was again aborted, this time apparently by direct orders from the Prime Minister. Mordechai told an Israeli reporter: "I didn’t think that at this age I’d find myself hiding in the bushes," The paratroopers were never given the opportunity to carry out their assignments. The ceasefire was to take effect at 8 AM the following morning. The paratroopers instead used the darkness of the night and started withdrawing on foot to Israeli territory.