- Savoy Operation
The Savoy Operation was an attack by Palestinian militants on the
Savoy Hotel inTel Aviv ,Israel on 4 and5 March 1975 .Background
On the night of 4 March 1975 at 11:00 PM, eight Palestinian militants in two teams landed by boat on the Tel Aviv beach. Shooting and throwing
grenade s, they captured the Savoy Hotel near the center of the city. The guests became hostages. The Palestinians threatened that if the Israelis did not release 20 Palestinian prisoners within four hours the hostages would be killed.Early the next morning an Israeli commando unit ("
Sayeret Matkal ") stormed the hotel, killing seven militants and capturing one. Five hostages were freed and eight were killed. Three soldiers, including the former Sayeret Matkal commanderUzi Yairi , were also killed. A few hours later the ship that transported the militants was captured and its crew were taken prisoner.The Palestinian operation was masterminded by
Abu Jihad in retaliation for a surgical raid that the same commando unit (Sayeret Matkal) conducted inBeirut ,Lebanon in April, 1973 (Operation Spring of Youth ), where they killed three topPLO leaders.Members of the Savoy Operation included Musa Juma al-Tallka, who was the only survivor, Muhammad Mashala, Hader Muhammad, Ziad Talk al-Zrir, Musa Awad, Muhammed al-Masri, Abu al-Lel, and Ahmed Hamid who were all killed by the Israeli commandos.
Although the hostage situation took place in the Savoy Hotel, the initial target of the militants was the Israeli tourist city of
Nahariya . Apparently the team was unable to locate the city on the night of the operation. Two months later, the operation's objectives were changed to the Manshiya Neighborhood Youth Club, and theTel Aviv Opera Building. The contingency plan in case the original targets could not be located was to select any nearby populated buildings as targets. This resulted in the Savoy Hotel raid, as it was the only illuminated building on the street.External links
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/AS1.htm Terrorist Suicide Operation Analysis] Global Security
* [http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=157 al-Fatah attacked Business target] MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base
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