2000 Hezbollah Cross-border Raid - The Attack and Abduction

The Attack and Abduction

While patrolling the border near the Shebaa Farms an IDF patrol manned by Adi Avitan (22), Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham (21), and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaid (27), was ambushed by a Hezbollah squad. The patrol car was hit by a rocket. The Hezbollah squad blasted a gate in the fence and a civilian Range Rover car entered Israeli-occupied territory to collect the captives and made a quick getaway.

Several factors contributed to the ease with which Hezbollah could carry out the abduction. The location of the abduction was situated between the 91st and the 36th Division. IDF bureaucracy prevented coordination and information sharing between the two. The IDF had received indications that Hezbollah was planning an abduction at the site. A patrol from the Egoz elite unit belonging to the 91st Division had observed Hezbollah activity in the area, which seemed to be an ideal place for an abduction. This information had not been passed on to the 36th Division. Neither the electronic border fence nor the surveillance cameras was functioning at the relevant section but was repaired only after the incident.

The bodies of the three captives were returned in a prisoner exchange in 2004. It is not known when or under what circumstances the three soldiers were killed. In October 2001 IDF stated that Israeli military intelligence estimated that “the three were either killed during the initial Hizbullah attack or immediately afterward”.

A video released by Hezbollah and broadcast by LBC seems to indicate that at least one of the captives was able to walk being led to the get-away car. Ya'akov Avitan, father of the abducted soldiers, said that the film indicates that, "the boys were alive when they were kidnapped... they murdered our boys in cold blood after the kidnap."

The Hannibal Directive is a secret IDF order stating that abductions of Israeli soldiers must be prevented by all means, including shooting at or shelling a get-away car, thereby risking the lives of the captives. When the abduction of the three soldiers became known the Hannibal directive was invoked. Israeli attack helicopters fired at 26 cars moving in the area. The number of casualties, Hezbollah or civilian, is not known. There are however no clear indications that the captives were inside any of the attacked cars or were harmed in the attacks.

The captors denied the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other parties permission to visit them and to learn at first hand about their state of health and the conditions they were held in.