100 aircraft (mostly ground attack MiG-21 and MiG-23, some MiG-23M air-to-air fighters)[1] 30 SAM batteries[3]
Casualties and losses
2 F-15 damaged[4] At least 1 UAV shot down[5]
82–86 planes shot down 29 SAM batteries destroyed
v
t
e
1982 Lebanon War
1982
Beaufort
Jezzine
Mole Cricket 19
Sultan Yacoub
Beirut
Bhamdoun
Operation Épaulard I
Sabra and Shatila
Wimpy Operation
1st Tyre
1983
2nd Tyre
1984
Sohmor
1985
Iron Fist
Maarakeh
Zrarieh
Operation Mole Cricket 19 (Hebrew: מבצע ערצב-19, Mivtza ʻArtzav Tsha-Esreh) was a suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) campaign launched by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) against Syrian targets on June 9, 1982, at the outset of the 1982 Lebanon War. The operation was the first time in history that a Western-equipped air force successfully destroyed a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile (SAM) network.[3] It also became one of the biggest air battles since World War II,[6] and the biggest since the Korean War.[7] The result was a decisive Israeli victory, leading to the colloquial name the "Bekaa Valley Turkey Shoot".
The IAF began working on a SAM suppression operation at the end of the Yom Kippur War. Rising tensions between Israel and Syria over Lebanon escalated in the early 1980s and culminated in Syria deploying SAM batteries in the Beqaa Valley. On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, and on the third day of the war, with clashes ongoing between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Syrian Army, Israel decided to launch the operation.
The battle lasted about two hours, and involved innovative tactics and technology. By the end of the day, the IAF had destroyed 29 of 30 SAM batteries deployed in the Beqaa Valley, and shot down 82–86 enemy aircraft, with minimal losses of its own. The battle led the United States to impose a ceasefire on Israel and Syria.
^ ab"Air Combat Past, Present and Future". Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
^Grant, Rebecca. "The Bekaa Valley War". Air Force Magazine Online. 85 (June 2002). Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
^ abCite error: The named reference morris528 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Aloni, Shlomo. Israeli F-15 Eagle Units in Combat, 2006, p. 51.
^" לבטאון חיל-האוויר הישראלי" (Journal of the Israeli Air Force), July 1984, №141, p. 12.
^Nordeen (1990), p. 175
^Cohen (1990), p. 615
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