Sayeret Matkal

General Staff Reconnaissance Unit
Sayeret Matkal
Moshe Yaalon Omer Bar-Lev Benjamin Netanyahu Iddo Netanyahu
Insignia
Flag of the Intelligence Corps

General Staff Reconnaissance Unit^[2] (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal^[3] (Hebrew: סיירת מטכ״ל), is the special reconnaissance unit (sayeret) of Israel's General Staff (matkal). It is considered one of the premier special forces units of Israel.^[4]

First and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, conducting deep reconnaissance behind enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence, Sayeret Matkal is also tasked with a wide variety of frequently clandestine

In the first years of the unit, it manned by Palmach veterans, veterans of the intelligence corps, veterans of Unit 101 and the paratroopers unit. Among them Isaac Shoshan, Yair Harari, Eli Gil ("Daud"), Sami Nachmias, Charles Levy ("Salem"), Moshe Levin (Kukala), Shmuel Ben Zvi (Shemil), Yitzhak Ghibli ("The Little One"), Yehiel Amsalem - the commander of the first team in the unit, Meir Har-Zion, Avshalom Adam, Aharon Eshel, Micah Kapusta, Rami Kafkafi and many other young people from kibbutzim.

Its first operational activity was carried out in a dedicated assignment in Lebanon in May 1962.

The Yom Kippur War in 1973 brought a profound change to the unit. With Israel fighting on two fronts and the General Staff busy with managing the war, Sayeret Matkal found itself without missions to perform. Sayeret Matkal officers then split into two camps: those who believed that the unit should be kept in reserve and not be lightly sent to missions where it could endure heavy casualties, and those that wanted to go into action, even if that meant missions with little planning and more akin to a commando force than to the strategic-oriented Sayeret Matkal. The latter prevailed and Sayeret Matkal was tasked with operations on both fronts. After the war, Sayeret Matkal began developing plans for wartime in advance, so that when war came, the unit could go into action immediately, without waiting for the General Staff's orders and missions. A reserve company of Sayeret Matkal was also designated specifically for cooperation with the Israeli Air Force, shown by the war to be lacking. This would later evolve into Shaldag Unit.^[12]

In 1974, Sayeret Matkal suffered a heavy blow when a failed rescue attempt resulted in the

The unit was kept

The basic requirements for being considered to serve in the unit are a medical profile of 97 (with no disqualifying clauses), a quality category ("kaba") of 52 or more, and an initial psychotechnic grading ("dapar") of 50 or more. Once admitted to the unit, the recruits' training lasts for about two years,^[4] with heavy emphasis on camouflage, combat and patrolling techniques in urban areas, defusing disposal of bombs and land mines, fast tactical shooting, living off the desert and mountain, martial arts, navigation, reconnaissance tactics, small unit tactics, tactical driving, tactical emergency medical, tracking tactics, unconventional raid tactics, navigational skills, small arms and light weapons, and other skills required for survival behind enemy lines. They must also complete the 120–150-kilometre (75–93 mi) Beret March in the final four days to receive their red beret.^[11] The training regime consists of the following:

• Four months of basic
  Paratroopers basic training base; it is part of the regular Paratroopers basic training routine.^[11]
• Two months advanced infantry training, within the unit.[11]
• Three weeks parachuting course in the IDF Parachuting School.^[11]
• Five weeks counter-terror (CT) course in the IDF Counter-Terror Warfare School, followed by more inner-unit CT training.^[11]
• The rest of the training is dedicated to long-range reconnaissance patrol training, and especially to navigation/orienteering, which is of vast importance in the unit. While most of the orienteering training is done in pairs for safety reasons, as in every other unit in the IDF, Sayeret Matkal is one of the handful of IDF units which conducts long-range solo navigation exercises.^[11]

Toward the end of their training, Sayeret Matkal recruits, along with recruits for other special forces units and pilot cadets, undergo a two-week course in enduring captivity. After a surprise mock kidnapping, they are held in prison-like conditions and subjected to interrogation, threats, and physical violence, and forced to perform demeaning activities.^[20]

Today, all the soldiers in the unit undergo officer's course at the end of their training and move on to hold positions in the unit as well as other IDF units. The combat soldiers are required to sign on for an additional 36 months in addition to their mandatory service term. Most of the combat soldiers will commence an undergraduate university degree towards the end of their service.^[4]

Although Sayeret Matkal has its own insignia, it is also one of only two units in the IDF, the other being Duvdevan, whose soldiers are not allowed to wear it in public due to its classified nature. This lack of insignia often leads to Sayeret Matkal operators being recognized as such, as the fact that Matkal troopers don't wear insignia is well known.^[21]

Notable members

Sayeret Matkal veterans have gone on to achieve high positions in Israel's military and political echelons. Several have become IDF Generals and members of the

• Nadav Argaman – team leader, later director of the Shin Bet.
• Doron Avital – commander 1992–1994. Member of 18th Knesset for Kadima.
• Shay Avital – unit commander during the 1982 Lebanon War, later first commander of the Depth Corps.
• Yamina party.^[22]
• Operation Entebbe. Founder of the Shaldag Unit.^[23]
• Nechemya Cohen – the Unit's and the IDF's most decorated soldier (with Barak). Killed in action. Beit Nechemya was built in his memory by "the Unit".^[24]
• minister of internal security.^[25]
• Daniel M. Lewin – co-founder of Akamai Technologies. He was the first victim of the September 11 attacks.^[26]
• Defense Minister of Israel.^[14]
• Benjamin Netanyahu – unit team leader, current Prime Minister of Israel.^[14]
• Iddo Netanyahu – writer and radiologist. Benjamin Netanyahu's younger brother.^[14]
• Operation Entebbe. Benjamin Netanyahu and Iddo Netanyahu's older brother.^[14]
• Defense Minister of Israel.^[27]
• Savoy Operation.^[14]
• Danny Yatom – unit deputy commander, later a General, head of Mossad and a Knesset member.^[25]
• Doron Kempel – unit deputy commander, called to lead the planning and preparation of Operation Bramble Bush.^[28]

There is a widely held misconception that former Israeli major general and former prime minister Ariel Sharon served in Sayeret Matkal. Although as a major, Sharon founded the IDF's first special-forces unit (Unit 101) in 1953, he never served in Sayeret Matkal.

Operations

• 1968 –
  Beirut International Airport, Lebanon.^[29]
• 1969 –
  Green Island, Egypt (jointly with Shayetet 13).^[30]
• 1969 – Operation Raviv – raid on Egypt's Red Sea coast.
• 1972 –
  Operation Isotope – foiling the hijacking of Sabena Flight 571 in Tel Aviv, Israel (hostages rescue).^[11][31]
• 1972 – Operation Crate 3 – kidnapping 5 Syrian intelligence officers.^[11]
• 1973 –
  Black September terrorist leaders in Beirut, Lebanon (jointly with Shayetet 13).^[11]
• 1973 –
  Hermon from Syrian commandos (jointly with Golani Brigade); rescue of Lt. Col. Yossi Ben Hanan behind enemy lines; deep interdiction ambushes in Egypt and Syria.^[21]
• 1974 – Ma'alot massacre – school hostages rescue.^[14]
• 1975 –
  Savoy Operation – hotel hostages rescue.^[14]
• 1976 –
  Operation Thunderbolt – hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda.^[14][32]
• 1978 –
  Coastal Road Massacre – bus hostages rescue.^[14][31]
• 1980 – Misgav Am hostage crisis – Kibbutz nursery hostages rescue.^[31]
• 1982 – 1982 Lebanon War – deep reconnaissance ahead of Israeli forces (snipers managed to target Yasser Arafat although they were not allowed to fire)^[33]
• 1984 –
  Kav 300 affair – bus hostages rescue.^[34]
• 1988 – Assassination of
  Abu Jihad, in Tunis, Tunisia.^[35]
• 1989 – Kidnapping of Sheik
  Ron Arad).^[31]
• 1992 – Operation Bramble Bush – plan to assassinate Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.^[36]
• 1994 –
  Ron Arad).^[31]
• 1994 –
  Nachshon Wachsman – failed hostage rescue.^[37][38]
• 2006 –
  Second Lebanon War: Operation Sharp and Smooth – disrupt weapons smuggling (jointly with the Shaldag Unit); other operations to disrupt weapons smuggling (in one of them the force was discovered and Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Moreno was killed and two others were wounded in the ensuing gun battle).^[39]
• 2007 – Collecting soil samples in
  Operation Orchard, the bombing of an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor.^[40]
• 2017 – Infiltration into Syria to place a listening device in a meeting room of
  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant external operations personnel. The intelligence recovered led to the 2017 electronics ban.^[41]
• 2023 -
  2023 Israel-Hamas War - rescue of Israeli hostages and to assassinate key Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip^[42]

• Israel Defense Forces
• Israeli Special Forces Units

Similar foreign special forces units:

• List of special forces units

References