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Operation Spring of Youth
Part of the Operation Wrath of God
Date April 9–10, 1973 Location Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon Result IDF special forces achieve their objective
Combatants
Sayeret Matkal	PLO
Casualties
2 killed	12-100 killed
3 civilian casualties

The 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon (code-named Operation Spring of Youth) took place on the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, 1973 when Israel Defense Forces special forces units attacked several PLO targets in Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon.

The Israeli Sayeret Matkal forces arrived at the Lebanese beaches in Zodiac boats launched from missile ships offshore. Mossad agents awaited the forces on the beaches with cars rented the previous day, and then drove them to their targets and later back to the beaches for extraction.

During the operation, three PLO leaders, surprised at home, were killed, along with other PLO personnel (reports of actual number killed vary from a dozen to 100). Several Lebanese security people and civilian neighbors were also killed. Two Israeli soldiers were killed by defending forces.

The main target was a pair of seven-story buildings in the fashionable neighborhood of Verdun in West Beirut. These buildings were residential housing for both British and Italian families amongst other Arab families. The building housing Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar (Abu Youssef) had two British families and was next door to a boarding school run by the Catholic Salesian order. The second seven story building was on the opposite side of the road and was residential. There were two targets in this building, Kamal Adwan and Kamal Nasser. The Italian grandmother was killed in this building by the Israeli forces who stormed the wrong apartment at first.

The team attacking the target was mostly based on Sayeret Matkal commandos, led by then unit-commander Ehud Barak. (Barak later became IDF Chief of Staff and subsequently Prime Minister). The attacking team also included Yonatan Netanyahu, who became unit commander two years later and became known for leading the hostage rescue operation in Entebbe in which he died. The team approached the buildings disguised as civilians and couples (Barak was disguised as a brunette). In the building, the team killed three PLO leaders:

• Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar (Abu Youssef) - a PLO veteran, previously head of the Lebanese Fatah branches, head of Fatah internal intelligence organization. His latest duties were head of the PLO's political department and one of Yasser Arafat's deputies (third in line of Fatah's leadership). His wife was shot as she ran to shelter her sons.

• Kamal Adwan - A veteran Fatah leader. Responsible for armed resistance activities against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

• Kamal Nasser - PLO spokesman and member of the PLO Executive Committee.

During the operation, an Italian woman who resided in the building was also killed, as well as two Lebanese policemen.

A separate nearby target was a multi-story building which housed activists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The attacking team had 14 commandos, mainly Sayeret Tzanhanim Commando paratroopers led by Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, who later succeeded Barak as IDF Chief of Staff. The attacking team met strong resistance early on, and two of its soldiers were killed. Despite this resistance, the force was able to bomb the building. Lipkin-Shahak was also decorated for bravery for his conduct in this operation.

Other targets were blown up after having been searched for papers and other intelligence materials. These targets were attacked by the Israeli Navy, especially Shayetet 13 commandos:

• The headquarters of the Fatah's Gaza sector and a workshop which assembled rockets and mines near the Beirut International Airport.
• Another workshop in the north-eastern part of Beirut assembling rockets and mines.
• PLO vehicle garage north of Sidon.

• Munich (film)

• Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2
• "Jewish Virtual Library": Detailed Israeli viewpoint and eyewitness accounts
• "Journal of Counterterrorism & Security International": Includes background material on the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre and Israel's hunt for its perpetrators.
• "CBS News: An Eye For An Eye" Includes short testimonies by Barak and Adwan's daughter.
• "Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem": History of IDF operations vs. Palestinians from a Palestinian viewpoint, including this operation.

Arab-Israeli conflict

v • d • e

v • d • e Participants in the Arab-Israeli conflict
Governments	Egypt •  Iraq •  Israel •  Jordan •  Lebanon •  Palestinian National Authority •  Saudi Arabia •  Syria •  Yemen
Active organizations	Amal • al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades •  Arab League • Arab Liberation Front •  Ba'ath Party •  Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Fatah • Guardians of the Cedars •  Hamas •  Hezbollah • Jaish al-Islam • Kataeb • Lebanese Forces • Palestinian Islamic Jihad • Palestine Liberation Front • Palestine Liberation Organisation • Palestinian Popular Struggle Front •  Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command • Popular Resistance Committees • as-Saiqa
Former	South Lebanon Army • Arab Higher Committee • Arab Liberation Army • Holy War Army • Irgun (Etzel) • Lehi • Black Hand • Black September •  Mandate of Palestine
Other Governments	Iran •  Norway •  Turkey •  United Kingdom •  United States
Other Organizations	European Union • United Nations
Former States	Soviet Union •  United Arab Republic

v • d • e Arab-Israeli conflict individual participants

Lester B. Pearson • Abd al-Hakim Amer • Hosni Mubarak • Gamal Abdel Nasser • Anwar Sadat • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Ali Khamenei • Ruhollah Khomeini • Faisal I • Saddam Hussein • Ehud Barak • Menachem Begin • David Ben-Gurion • Moshe Dayan • Levi Eshkol • Golda Meir • Benjamin Netanyahu • Ehud Olmert • Shimon Peres • Yitzhak Rabin • Yitzhak Shamir • Ariel Sharon • Chaim Weizmann • King Abdullah I • King Abdullah II • King Hussein • Emile Lahoud • Hassan Nasrallah • Fouad Siniora • Mona Juul • Johan Jørgen Holst • Terje Rød-Larsen • Mahmoud Abbas • Yasser Arafat • Marwan Barghouti • George Habash • Ismail Haniya • Amin al-Husayni • Khaled Mashal • Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi • Ahmed Shukeiri • Ahmed Yassin • King Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud) • King Abdullah • King Fahd • King Faisal • Folke Bernadotte • Hafez al-Assad • Bashar al-Assad • Shukri al-Quwatli • Salah Jadid • Ernest Bevin • Arthur Balfour • Tony Blair • Richard Crossman • Madeleine Albright • Ralph Bunche • George H. W. Bush • George W. Bush • Jimmy Carter • Bill Clinton • Henry Kissinger • Ronald Reagan • Condoleezza Rice • Dennis Ross • Harry Truman • Cyrus R. Vance

v • d • e Arab-Israeli conflict engagements

1920 Palestine riots • 1921 Jaffa riots • 1929 Palestine riots • 1936–1939 Arab revolt • 1947 Jerusalem riots • 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandate Palestine • 1948 Arab-Israeli War • 1950s terrorism against Israel • 1953 Qibya massacre • 1956 Suez Crisis • 1967 Six-Day War • 1968–1970 War of Attrition • 1972 Munich Olympics massacre • 1972 Operation Wrath of God • 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon • 1973 Yom Kippur War • 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War • 1976 Operation Entebbe • 1978 South Lebanon conflict • 1981 Operation Opera • 1982 Lebanon War • 1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict • 1985 Operation Wooden Leg • 1987–1990 First Intifada • 1991 Gulf War • 1993 Operation Accountability • 1993-present Palestinian suicide attacks • 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath • 2000–present Al-Aqsa Intifada • 2002 Operation Defensive Shield • 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike • 2004 Operation Rainbow • 2004 Operation Days of Penitence • 2006 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict • 2006 Lebanon War • 2007 2007 Israel-Gaza conflict • Operation Orchard

v • d • e Diplomacy and Peace proposals in the Arab-Israeli conflict

Damascus Protocol • Hussein-McMahon Correspondence • Sykes-Picot Agreement • 1917 Balfour Declaration • Declaration to the Seven • Anglo-French Declaration • 1919 Faisal-Weizmann Agreement • 1920 San Remo conference • 1922 Churchill White Paper • 1939 White Paper • 1947 UN Partition Plan • 1948 Establishment of Israel • 1948 UNGA Resolution 194 • 1949 Armistice Agreements • 1964 Palestinian National Covenant • 1967 Khartoum Resolution • 1967 UNSC Resolution 242 • 1973 UNSC Resolution 338 • 1973 UNSC Resolution 339 • 1974 UNSC Resolution 350 • 1978 UNSC Resolution 425 • 1978 Camp David Accords • 1979 UNSC Resolution 446 • 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty • 1979 UNSC Resolution 452 • 1980 UNSC Resolution 478 • 1981 UNSC Resolution 497 • 1983 Israel-Lebanon agreement • 1991 Madrid Conference • 1993 Oslo Accords • 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace • 1998 Wye River Memorandum • 2000 Camp David Summit • 2001 Taba Summit • 2001 UNSC Resolution 1373 • 2002 Beirut Summit and Peace Initiative • 2002 Road map for peace • 2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 • 2004 UNSC Resolution 1566 • 2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 • 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh Summit • 2005 Israel's unilateral disengagement plan • 2006 Palestinian Prisoners' Document • 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 • 2006 Franco-Italian-Spanish Peace Plan