Shayetet 13 ( שייטת 13 ) is the Israeli naval commando elite special forces unit. The S-13 (shortcut for "Shayetet 13") is considered as one of the top-three SF units in Israel (along with Sayeret Matkal and the YAMAM). The S-13 is part of the Navy of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

The S-13 symbol is a sword with in a shield with bat wings (click here to view the symbol).

Originally the S-13 was designated and trained to perform naval raids and underwater commando operations. Aside from being the navy elite unit for special missions, the S-13 is also an elite CT (counter terror) unit which specializes in deep covert ops deep within enemy's territory combining assault by sea, land and air.

History

The S-13 is based upon the Naval Brigade of the Jewish pre-military Haganah. Only in the 1970's it was professionalized as a naval SF unit and elite CT force. During the following decades the S-13 based its reputation as the second best elite SF in the IDF.

The S-13 took part in Operation Spring of Youth of 1973 in which Israeli special forces raided Beirut secretly overnight and killed some of the members of Black September, which had carried out the Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes in the Munich 1972 Summer Olympics.

Beside its great successes, the S-13 has also known great tragedies.

On September 8 1997 the unit suffered a serious blow during a raid in Lebanon, when it was caught in a Hezbollah ambush and 11 of its soldiers were killed, including the unit commander.

In recent years, it was discovered that S-13 veterans had high occurrence of cancer, probably due to training in the polluted Kishon River & Haifa Bay. A commission for investigating the matter didn't find statistical evidences that the diving in the Kishon caused the cancer. However, Minister of Defence, Shaul Mofaz, decided to compensate the divers' families in spite of the commission findings.

Despite all of this, the S-13 is still considered as the best elite SF unit in the Israeli Defence Force and has strong positive reputation within the Israeli public.

Training

Originally the S-13 was designated and trained to perform naval raids and underwater commando operations. Aside from being the navy elite unit for special missions, the S-13 is also an elite CT (counter terror) unit which specializes in deep covert ops deep within enemy's territory combining assault by sea, land and air.

The training course of S-13 is lasting one year and eight months (20 months). During the training the fighters acquire many skills, such as: sniping, navigation, unarmed combat, diving, sailing, parachuting, helicopter gliding and more.

List of famous S-13 operations

• Spring of Youth "Aviv Neurim" (1973).
• Taking over Santorini smuggling ship (2002).
• Taking over Karin A smuggling ship (2002).
• Taking over Abu-Yusuf smuggling ship.

Current Status

During the al-Aqsa Intifada, the S-13 soldiers decided not to limit themselves to naval operations and took part in ground counter terror operations deep within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The S-13 has performed hundreds of operations, including the arrest and/or destruction of many militants of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, considered worldwide as terrorists due to their involvement in suicide bombings.

S-13 still performs naval operations. It earned high acclaim due to the capture of three Palestinian ships which smuggled illegal weapons: Karin A, Santorini and Abu-Yusuf . The takeover of Karin A in particular was considered a highly difficult operation and it was conducted flawlessly.

In 2002 and in 2003, the S-13 won the Chief-of-Staff award for successful counter terror operations (click here to see the award certificate).

Following the death of S-13's Captain Moran Vardi on June 6, 2004, the IDF issued the following statement:

The Shayetet (13) is an elite infantry recon unit (Sayeret) which operate on land, air and sea. The Shayetet fighters conducting a widespread extensive activities in land, air and sea which include intelligence gathering, pinpoint targeting of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure, thwarting terrorist attacks and naturalizing serious risks to Israel's security.

In the last years, since the beginning of the intifada, the Shayetet is taking a central place in IDF activities in the territories. The activity of capturing wanted terrorist, specially designed for the Shayetet require special abilities. The Shayetet operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have heavy price, in the current conflict the Shayetet lost five of its soldiers.

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See also: Israel Defence Forces, navy, Navy Seals

External Links

• S-13 from Isayeret
• The Official Israeli Naval Website
• IDF Official Web Site
• Weapons caught on Santorini and Karin A