Operation Bulmus 6, also known as the Green Island Raid, was a military raid conducted by special operations units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against an Egyptian early warning radar and ELINT station located on a small island in the Gulf of Suez on the night of July 19, 1969. Special forces or special operations forces are military units which are formed and trained to conduct missions involving unconventional warfare, Counter-Terrorism, reconnaissance, direct action and foreign internal defence. ... The Israel Defense Forces are part of the Israeli Security Forces. ... An early warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its selected targets. ... ELINT stands for ELectronic INTelligence, and refers to intelligence-gathering by use of electronic sensors. ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez(west), Gulf of Aqaba(east) from Space Shuttle STS-40. ...

Green Island, or Al Ah'dar, was a fortress built by British forces during World War II. Located four kilometers south of the city of Suez and the mouth of the Suez Canal, it was a series of concrete bunkers sitting atop an eight-foot high seawall, ringed by razor wire three rolls deep. Only 145 meters long and 50 meters wide, the island was heavily defended. It's garrison consisted of approximately seventy Egyptian infantrymen and twelve As-Saiqa commandos, fourteen machine gun positions, two 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and four 85mm anti-aircraft guns. The island and surrounding area were within range of both Israeli and Egyptian artillery sited on opposite shores of the gulf. Green Island is a small artificial island in the Red Sea at the southern mouth of the Suez Canal. ... Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, Canada, China, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8... 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal. ... Seawall protecting homes from storm waves and beach erosion. ... Image:Scheermes-prikkeldraad. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Though the destruction of Egyptian early warning radar and ELINT sites was an ongoing goal during this period, known as the War of Attrition, the raid was as much prompted by a wish to send a "message" to Egypt as it was the actual destruction of the military targets. IDF Chief of Staff Chaim Bar Lev and Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan together decided that Egypt should be shown that no Egyptian position was safe, no matter how well-fortified or impregnable. As a target, Green Island fulfilled both goals. Green Island could been more easily attacked by Israeli artillery or aircraft with less risk to Israeli life, but a commando raid would send a clear message and have a negative effect on Egyptian military forces' morale it was hoped. The War of Attrition was a limited war fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970. ... Chaim Kidoni Bar-Lev (November 16, 1924 - May 7, 1994) was a Jewish army officer during Israels pre-state and early statehood eras. ... Moshe Dayan (help· info) (Hebrew: משה דיין) (May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981), was an Israeli military leader and politician. ...

It was decided that the operation would be a combined operation, split between elements of Israel's Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance unit and Shayetet 13 Naval Commandos. Lieutenant Colonel Zeev Almog commanded the operation. The specific priorities were set at destruction of the 85mm anti-aircraft guns, then the main northern building, then the radar and ELINT site. Combined Operations was a department of the British War Office set up during World War II to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. ... Sayeret Matkal (Hebrew: סיירת מטכל - General Staff Reconnaissance unit) is the elite special forces unit of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). ... Shayetet 13 ( שייטת 13 ) is the Israeli naval commando elite special forces unit. ...

The plan called for the Naval Commandos, using Zodiac inflatable boats, to lead the first of two waves in the assault. The second wave, the Sayeret Matkal, would consist of commandos, command and control and medical teams, and an extraction team. The second wave commandos would arrive to carry the fight just as the first wave ran low on ammunition. Two inflatable boats at Horsea Island, England An inflatable boat is a light-weight but high performance and high capacity boat constructed with flexible tubes at the gunwale. ... The phrase command and control is used in various fields: In telecommunications Command and control (C 2) is the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. ...

The first wave consisted of four teams of two officers and three commandos each and departed from the vicinity of Ras Sudar on the east bank of the Gulf of Suez at 2030. They approached to within 900 meters of the island by boat, then swam, first on the surface and once closer underwater using rebreathers. Each man carried 40 kilograms of gear. Inspiration closed circuit diving rebreather A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycles exhaled gas. ...

At 0138, because of a more difficult swim than anticipated due to the currents causing the wave to arrive 8 minutes behind schedule, the first team breached the barbed wire. The second team moved in past the first countering the initial Egyptian response. The third team then crossed a small bridge and destroyed a defensive and observation tower and radar facility. The fourth team cleared a building to the north. Half the raiders cleared or blocked the southern half of the island, the fortress, while the other half eliminated the radar and anti-aircraft equipment. This was complicated by the fact that most of their hand grenades were rendered useless by the swim at a deeper depth than expected depths due to each man's heavy load. This was accomplished with the support of a separate Naval Commando team providing covering fire and diversion with with a bazooka and a light machine gun from a small rock outcropping just south of the island, having reached it by Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDV). At this point the commander of the first wave, Lieutenant Dov Bar, signaled the second wave to come in using a flare. To avoid catching the approaching second wave in a cross fire a second flare by Bar signaled the covering fire and diversion team on the rock outcropping to stand down and withdraw, which they did successfully. A hand grenade is a hand-held bomb, made to be thrown by a soldier. ... The bazooka weapon was one of the initial anti-tank weapons based on the High Explosive Anti-tank (HEAT) shell to enter service, used by the United States Armed Forces in World War II and the Korean War. ... The M249 SAW, one of the most popular 5. ...

The second wave, which had been idling in their Zodiac's in the Gulf, now trailing the first waves recovered boats, roared up to the island. They quickly set up a command post and aid station and took out the 85mm gun emplacements. Not much larger than a football field, all combat on the island was conducted at close range. The Egyptian response, uncoordinated at first, became fierce, employing heavy and light machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, and eventually calling in artillery on their own position. After the arrival of the second wave, the Egyptian efforts of the defenders became sporadic and again uncoordinated, with some jumping from bunkers into the sea. An RPG or a rocket-propelled grenade is a hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket containing an explosive warhead. ...

The extraction was ordered at 0225. By 0255 the teams were aboard the Zodiacs and heading for the eastern bank of the Gulf, having lost one Zodiac at the island to Egyptian artillery fire. At 0310, with the Israeli commandos still crossing the Gulf, satchel charges left on the island detonated destroying the remaining facilities. Egyptian artillery now shelled both the Zodiacs and the beachheads set up to receive them, driving several boats away and delaying their landings while they searched for alternate beaches to divert to. Another Zodiac was lost when it was abandoned by it's team less than 400 meters from Green Island, but the team was recovered by helicopter at 0500 after spending several hours swimming toward the eastern shore. A satchel charge is a powerful, man-portable explosive device used by infantry and airborne troops. ...

The result of the raid was the destruction of the entire Egyptian facility at Green Island. Israeli casualties were three Sayeret Matkal and three Shayetet 13 commandos killed, and eleven wounded, for a casualty rate of approximately fifty percent. Egyptian casualties were 36 killed and an unknown number wounded. An unknown number of the Egyptian casualties were caused by friendly fire; the shelling of the island by their own artillery. Following the raid the Israeli Air Force exploited the hole in Egyptian air defenses and engaged the Egyptian Air Force in over 300 dogfights and bombing raids. Naval Commando conducted another 80 raids along the Suez Canal until the 1970 cease-fire ended the War of Attrition. Sayeret Matkal (Hebrew: סיירת מטכל - General Staff Reconnaissance unit) is the elite special forces unit of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). ... Shayetet 13 ( שייטת 13 ) is the Israeli naval commando elite special forces unit. ... Friendly fire (fratricide or non-hostile fire) is a term originally adopted by the United States military in reference to an attack on friendly forces by other friendly forces, which may be deliberate (e. ... The Israeli Air Force (IAF) (Hebrew: חיל האוויר Heyl haAvir) is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces. ... Egyptian Air Force flag. ...

See also

• 1967 Six Day War
• 1973 Yom Kippur War