The battle of Sultan Yacoub was an tank engagement and massive Syrian victory against the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Lebanon War. Combatants Israel Phalange South Lebanon Army Amal PLO Syria Commanders Menachem Begin (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, (Ministry of Defence) Rafael Eitan, (CoS) Yasser Arafat Strength 76,000 37,000 Casualties 670 9,800 The 1982 Lebanon War (Hebrew: , Milkhemet Levanon, Milkhemet Levanon, Arabic: ‎), called by Israel the Operation Peace of... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ×”×”×’× ×” לישראל , [Army] Force for the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated with the Hebrew acronym צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces, comprising the Israeli Army, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Military of Syria. ... Combatants Israel Phalange South Lebanon Army Amal PLO Syria Commanders Menachem Begin (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, (Ministry of Defence) Rafael Eitan, (CoS) Yasser Arafat Strength 76,000 37,000 Casualties 670 9,800 The 1982 Lebanon War (Hebrew: , Milkhemet Levanon, Milkhemet Levanon, Arabic: ‎), called by Israel the Operation Peace of... Combatants Israel Defense Forces Palestinian Liberation Organization Commanders Ariel Sharon Yasir Arafat Strength 30,000 15,000 Casualties 368 soldiers killed, 2,383 wounded 1000 PLO guerillas killed, 6000 captured. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces... Combatants Israel Phalange South Lebanon Army Amal PLO Syria Commanders Menachem Begin (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, (Ministry of Defence) Rafael Eitan, (CoS) Yasser Arafat Strength 76,000 37,000 Casualties 670 9,800 The 1982 Lebanon War (Hebrew: , Milkhemet Levanon, Milkhemet Levanon, Arabic: ‎), called by Israel the Operation Peace of...

Losses

The Syrians claimed destruction of 21 to 30 Israeli armoured vehicles during this battle. Israeli AH-1s and MD.500 Defenders claimed destruction of 15 T-62s and few T-72s near Zahla. However, they encountered fierce anti-aircraft fire and were not able to execute their attacks as expected. One of Defenders was badly damaged by explosion of a shell nearby, so that it crashed on the ground in front of Syrian positions. Another Defender was apparently lost to anti-aircraft fire from Israeli armoured units after being misidentified as a Syrian Gazelle: obviously, after previous experiences with SA.432s the Israeli gunners were exceptionally nervous by the time. In return, the Merkavas of the 7th Israeli Brigade shot down at least one Gazelle using their 105mm cannons, and another Syrian SA.342 should have been shot down by a long-range TOW-shot from an Israeli Cobra helicopter. The T-62 Soviet main battle tank is a further development of the T-54/55 series. ... The T-72, a Soviet main battle tank entered production in 1971. ...

How fierce and bitter the fighting on the groud was shows the fact that - according to contemporary reports in Israeli press - in the fierce fighting of this day a single Israeli Brigade suffered a loss of 18 KIA - including its commander, Col. Avigdor Shriper - 87 injured, and 22 tanks destroyed.

External links

• http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_279.shtml