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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.
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2 List of S-13 operations 3 Current Status 4 External Links |
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.
Beside of great successes, the S-13 known also great tragedies.
On September 8 1997 the Naval Commandos previous elite reputation was shattered forever by a lethal array of Hizbullah, Amal & regular military-Lebanese Marine Commando Regiment firepower in a classic firestorm L-shaped ambush. In the resulting action, 11 Navy Commandos were killed, 4 wounded and l Navy Commando almost ran himself to death getting out of the kill-zone. Following this debacle, Israeli and world media dubbed a massacre; the Naval Commandos taken a serious moral blow.
In recent years, numerous Navy Commandos have gotten cancer and died from being ordered and forced to train in the polluted Kishon River & Haifa Bay. A commission for investigating the matter didn't found statistical evidences that the diving in the Kishon caused the cancer. This caused an outrage among the families of the fallen soldier and the Minister of Defence, Shaul Mofaz decided to componstate the divers' families in spite of the commision findings.
During the al-Aqsa Intifada, the S-13 soldiers decided not to limit themselves to naval operations and insisted on performing ground CT operation deep within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They performed hundreds of operations and managed to arrest and kill dozens of Palestinian militants of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, considered worldwide as terrorists due to their involvement in suicide bombings.
They are still performing naval operations and earned high acclaim due to the capture of three Palestinian ships which smuggled illegal weapons: Karin A, Sentorini and Abu-Yusuf. The takeover of Karin A 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 CT operations (click here to see the award certificate).
See also: Israel Defence Forces, navy, Navy SealsHistory
List of S-13 operations
Current Status
