Operation Thunderbolt Operation Thunderbolt, also called The Entebbe Raid or Operation Entebbe, was a successful Israeli Defense Forces hostage rescue operation at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of July 4, 1976. This rescue was after Wadie Haddad allied terrorists hijacked an Air France plane with 248 passengers, mostly Israelis, and commandeered the plane to Uganda where former Ugandan President Idi Amin hosted them while pretending to act on the best interest of the hostages. The planning, execution, and success of the operation is one of the most daring in history. The Hijacking and Hostage Situation Air France Flight 139 took off from Tel Aviv with 246 passengers and 12 crew members and flew to Athens where it dropped some passengers …show more content…
Diplomatic options included negotiating with Amin, the US, and Egypt. These negotiations led to the hijackers extending the deadline to July 4, a date which Amin also agreed because he was to attend an OAU meeting and come back that night. Amin’s absence and expected arrival date gave the operation a success. Other helpful factors included the fact that an Israeli firm constructed parts of the Airport and still had the blueprints and, few years back, IDF had trained some Ugandan soldiers. Also, the released hostages provided information about the hijackers, the weapons, and the terminal. Raid Preparation and Logistics IDF rejected plans to drop its commandos in Lake Victoria near the airport after information that the lake had crocodiles and the fact that Amin would not have allowed them out of Uganda. The other option was transporting troops to Uganda with space for hostages and back, but this too would need low flying to avoid enemy radar detection and refueling in Kenya. However, Kenya feared Amin’s retaliation and it took the efforts of Bruce MacKenzie, then Kenyan Minister of Agriculture to allow refueling at Jomo Kenyatta International …show more content…
Two more hostages died in the process. Approximately 55 Ugandan soldiers and all the hijackers died in the raid. Israeli unit commander Yonatan Netanyahu (brother to Benjamin Netanyahu) died outside the terminal whereas five commandoes got injuries. IDF left behind 74-year-old Dora Bloch, who was earlier taken to the hospital in Kampala, Amin later ordered her execution. Before departure, IDF destroyed several Ugandan planes including MiG-17 and MiG-21 to avoid pursuit. The troops flew the 102-rescued hostages to Israel via
The war in Afghanistan sparked numerous operations conducted by the U.S. military and its coalition forces. One of the most influential operation until today was Operation Anaconda. Fought in the Shahi-Kot Valley during early march 2002, it was the largest American battle since the Gulf War, and their first high altitude battle ever encounter. The goal of the Operation Anaconda was to eradicate the remaining Taliban and al Qaeda foothold within the eastern region of Afghanistan. Although, originally intended to last three days, Operation Anaconda lasted seventeen days instead, with seven days of intense battle. The U.S. operation Commander, Major General Franklin Hagenbeck, schemed the “hammer and anvil” plan in order to achieve his objective. However, this plan
Alicia made it to Israel but was taken by British border patrol officers to a jail on
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border. Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington; dubbed the CIA’s “finest hour,” it signified the first of many victories by deposing the Taliban’s control of Northern Afghanistan.
Juno Beach is the code name for the one of the five sectors of the Normandy beaches that the Allies invaded, Operation Overlord, on 6 June 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, during the Second World War. Juno beach was located between Sword and Gold sectors; this beach is 7km long and located between the villages of Graye-sur-Mer and St-Aubin-sur-Mer, the center of the British sector of the Normandy invasion. The unit responsible for the Juno sector was 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and commandos of the Royal Marines from Great Britain, with support from Naval Force J, the Juno contingent of the Naval invasion forces. The beach was defended by two Battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division with elements of the 21st Panzar Division sitting in reserve in Caen.
Despite the meticulous planning for OPLAN 90-2, there were a number of external factors that disrupted overall timeline and sequence of events. The plan was to assault and seize the Omar Torrijos International Airport after the last commercial passenger flight was scheduled to arrive at 2300. However, the flights arrival was delayed by two hours. The plan was to give enough time for the passengers to get their luggage and clear the airport prior to the assault. Weather conditions also became an issue for the departing forces. Soldiers traveling by convoy from Fort Ord to Travis Air Force Base had to combat a thick fog, coupled with Christmas traffic making the 150-mile trip very difficult. Upon arrival to the base, not all of the aircraft were configured the same, which was not surprising because most of the aircraft were pulled from different bases all over the nation of short notice. Equipment had to be repacked and the aircraft had to be reconfigured along with amending the flight manifests to fit all of the troops and equipment. Due to inclement weather at Fort Bragg, the Paratroopers arrival was also postponed. These delays were not taken into account during the planning period, which ultimately delayed departure.
The troops were being sent in because warlords were allowing their people to starve to death. The world had sent food, and the warlords hoarded it. The world had decided to stop this. Today's mission was to invade the Habr Gidr clan that was in Mogadishu Somalia. The clan was led by Mohamed Farrah Aidid, but that day's targets were two of his lieutenants. They were to be arrested and imprisoned with other clan members that had already been captured.
Who could possibly inflict such a horrendous, despicable attack? Khalid used open source intelligence resources to compiled data from various Western aviation magazines, telephone directories for U.S. cities, airline timetables, and conducted Internet searches on U.S. flight schools, flight simulator software and information gleaned from movies depicting hijackings. He also wanted to understand the western culture better as well, that way his operatives could better blend in with the surroundings. There were numerous failures on America’s intelligence agencies that led up to this event occurring.
In the late evening of March 3, two SEAL teams aboard two MH-47s Chinook Helicopters were to arrive in Gardez for immediate insertion into the Shahi-Kot valley. Due to time constrains, a helicopter insertion was needed for the teams to reach the peak before dawn. The two teams were picked up by the two MH-47s, around midnight but one of ...
Introduction Operation Anaconda was the first major joint combat operation against the war on terror that the US was committed to winning. This operation would test our military’s readiness for joint operations against a hardened and willing adversary. The primary mission was to kill/capture Taliban/Al Qaeda forces occupying towns and villages in the vicinity of Shahi Khot in order to gain control of the valley.1 The US needed the towns, villages, mountains, and more importantly, the intricate and hard to access caves cleared of enemy fighters. Units participating in the operation included elements of the 101st Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and Coalition forces from seven nations including Afghanistan.2 With so many different nations fighting along with our own branches of military, it would test our ability to conduct joint operations on multiple levels. History On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.”
During the early days of World War II the United States remained officially neutral. It was not until the attack on Pearl Harbor, by the Japanese, that the United States had no choice, but to declare war. In the beginning of the war Japan was winning most of the battles (Gailey). These defeats resulted in the morale being low among the American troops. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to boost morale and push forward the Pacific front with a strike on the Japanese homeland to serve as a testament to American military prowess and retribution for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (Shepherd). This eventually trickled down to the Doolittle Raid.
The United States launched an operation known as Operation Desert Shield, also known as the Persian Gulf War, in August of 1990 in response to Saddam Hussein’s order to the Iraqi forces to take over Kuwait. President George Herbert Walker Bush made the decision to send American troops to Saudi Arabia to form an international coalition that would eventually turn into an operation known as Operation Desert Storm. The United States Army had not witnessed an event of such international and Homefront importation since the Cold War.
At that time in the early 1990’s the U.S. was the only superpower country left in the world. The Soviet Union collapsed after the Cold War and the left the U.S. at the top. With the U.S. being the only superpower left, it meant that they were the only ones who could try to keep peace between other countries and hopefully end violence in the world. At the time, Somalia was a complete disaster and still is to this day. They have no structural government and warlords rule parts of the country. The one warlord at the time, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, was stealing shipments of food from the U.S. to the starving citizens in the rest of Somalia. The U.S. did not like this, so they set up a plan to capture Aidid and his men in a building near the Bakaara Market. The U.S. just got done defeating Saddam Hussein’s army in the first Gulf War. Before the war, Hussein had one of the largest armies in the world. The U.S. defeated them in a couple of weeks and gave them a massive amount of confidence going into this raid to try to capture Aidid.
In December 1941, the Japanese attacked the United States (US) in Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines. Foreseeing this invasion, the US pulled Gen. MacArthur out of retirement and sent him to the Philippines. His mission was to prepare this strategically located archipelago against Japanese invasion.
In mid-November of last year amidst rising tensions in the Middle East, Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander, Ahmed Al-Jabari of Hamas in an air strike. This strike on a car carrying the commander stemmed the beginning to what is known by the Israeli’s as operation “Pillar of Defense”. Following this “surgical” assassination, the Israeli air force struck over 20 underground rocket launch sites belonging to Hamas (governing terrorist organization in Gaza) and the Islamic Jihad. According to Palestinian sources these strikes killed an additional six Palestinians.
The Somali were struggling and since there was no one to aid them with their struggle for a secure government, the United States and United Nations began aiding the Somali people. The U.S. and the U.N. sent out deliveries of necessities the Somali people need to live off of, but warlords attempted to cut off the deliveries for the people, which infuriated the U.N. and U.S., who began to fight back against the warlords, causing greater tension in the capital. Aideed, a warlord, shot down two Black Hawk Helicopters, leading to the death of eighteen U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somali people. The fighting continued, leaving multitudes of deaths on both sides of the war. After years of endless fighting, the United Nations and United States tried to the best of their abilities to aid Somalia and its corrupt government, however in the end, they were unable to find a solution to assist