Syrian commando operations on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War (1973)

IDF forces across the battlefield saw the Syrian helicopters flying overhead, unaware that the helicopters were carrying commando forces to the Golan Heights landing sites. Nevertheless, the various echelons of the IDF, including the 7th and 679th brigades, the 36th division, the Northern Command, the Israel Air Force (IAF), and the IDF General Staff, did not understand this Syrian activity or misinterpreted it. Various publications surveying the Golan Heights battles during the Yom Kippur War, whether official IDF reports or other books about this specific front, make no mention of Syrian commando forces landing near Wasit or A-Dalawe. 

IDF Colonel (Ret.) Pesach Malovany, who has conducted extensive research into Arab military history and Soviet involvement in the Middle East during the USSR era, obtained Syrian materials that confirmed one of the newly discovered commando landings: the October 9 landing near Wasit. This landing occurred at the same time as the well-known landing of the commando force near Nafakh village. Given the dearth of information about the forces that landed and their fighting techniques, Malovany located additional Syrian sources, including Syrian newspapers, going back to 1974. These featured interviews and memoirs by Syrian soldiers and commanders, along with helicopter pilots and Syrian commando fighters who participated in those landings. 

This article weaves together Dr. Berger’s research findings and the information gleaned and translated from Arabic sources by Malovany. Combined, these findings shed light on one incident of the Yom Kippur War that had remained unknown for more than 40 years, both to the IDF and to researchers of the Syrian front. Perhaps this publication, and the new information it reveals, might help glean lessons from the past.