Unit 777 (in Arabic: الوحدة 777 قتال), also known as Task Force 777, is the military Egyptian counter-terrorism unit created in 1978 due to the failure of the Egyptian army commandos action in Larnaca airport (February 1978) as they engaged in a severe battle with Cyprus airport’s army and police troops who attacked the commandos heading to capture the terrorists who assassinated the Egyptian novelist head of the Afro-Asian authors’ summit in Hilton Nicosia. Unit 777 was developed with support from the United Kingdom SAS-22 and United States Special Forces. Unit 777 has a noticeable high physical fitness, urban & rural military combat capabilities, and a significant rock-mountains combat tactics. Its members are also occasionally charged with Protective Operations for Egyptian dignitaries visits abroad and the president of Egypt as well. Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, tactics, and strategies that governments, militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight terrorism. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The United States Special Operations Forces is the official category where the U.S. Department of Defense lists the U.S. military units that have a training specialization in unconventional warfare and special operations. ... The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the elected Head of State of Egypt. ...

Their only notable operation was a hostage rescue operation of Egypt Air Flight 648 in Malta – Valetta – Luqa airport in November 1985, following the execution of three passengers (Egyptian sky-martial, Israeli and USA citizens). Out of (98) hostages, a figure of (57) hostages were killed either because of severe burns or asphyxia due to the ruthless flame sparked-out inside the plane when the four hijackers threw (5) phosphoric hand grenades and opened auto fire randomly against the tightened to the seats hostages. One mistake from Luqa airport authorities led to that catastrophic disaster. The airport authorities switched-off the tarmac lights then on again in few seconds while the assault teams were still approaching their locations and before they became ready to storm the plane. This accidental mistake frustrated the hijackers - who were still negotiating with the authorities via the cockpit radio - and immediately suspected the action, opening the plane’s front-left door to discover the operators approach. Rumors claimed that unit 777 attempted to breach the roof of the aircraft with explosive charges, but it makes no sense as any specialist knows it could never be done like that. The Egyptian 777 used explosives as a decoy on the plane’s bottom cargo exit. The aircraft was destroyed in the resulting fire and there was nearly a friendly fire incident between Unit 777 and local Malta forces. Unit 777's international reputation was sullied by that dramatic incident. 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Few years ago unit 777 carried out successfully a confidential maritime operation into Haifa Israeli harbor to release a detained Egyptian ship with its crew which was accused by the authorities of smuggling weapons to Palestinians. That operation led to a tensioned political low profile crisis between both countries, but was solved later on. It is believed that the United States DELTA, French RAID, and German KSK have some sort of joint training with the Unit 777.

HRF

"Hostage Rescue Force" (in Arabic: قوة إنقاذ الرهائن ) is the elite police unit of Egypt which is responsible of two types of special interventions; Hostage Rescue incidents & Counter Terrorism operations. The HRF was established in 1978 due to the letdown of the Egyptian military commandos (Green Berets) during their raid in Larnaca airport - Nicosia Cyprus (19/02/1978), that drama which occurred because of the lack of coordination with Cyprus authorities, and the fact that the military commandos were not neither trained nor properly equipped for such specific counter terrorism operations by that time. Later on a joint board of inquiry from both the government and the parliament reached the conclusion that there was a need to have a capable specialized force for such significant operations. Hence, a decision was taken to establish two elite units for this specific type of operations: an army unit which is the Unit (777) Combat - commanded by the Ministry of Defense - responsible to handle external operations; and a police unit which is the (HRF) - commanded by the Ministry of Interior – for internal operations. Since 1978 to date, the Egyptian (HRF) carried out successful internal confidential operations as the policy is very strict regarding such issues in Egypt. It acquires good reputation among international similar units, and maintains international cooperation and regular joint training with equivalent elite units like the German GSG-9, French GIGN, Austrian WEGA & COBRA, British SAS-22, American FBI HRT and the former US Navy Seals Team Six..etc.