December 1983, the Syrian air defenses shot down two American warplanes over Lebanon in the first direct military confrontation with the United States of America.
On one of the two downed warplanes, there were two pilots, one of whom was killed while the other, "Robert O Goodman", was captured and taken to Damascus. As for the other plane, the Americans were able to rescue its pilot, who was slightly injured.
Robert Goodman with a member of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence
At the end of December, Reverend Jesse Jackson arrived in Damascus and met with the late President Hafez al-Assad and appealed him to release "Goodman". The American appeal was answered and the pilot was released on January 4, 1984.
Goodman was a 27-year-old pilot at the time and flew with "Lt. Mark Adam Lange" in an A6-E Intruder on December 4, 1983, from the USS John F. Kennedy off the coast of the United States. Lebanese.
Goodman recalls the events, saying, "I remember thinking very clearly - I have been cast into a position in the middle of this conflict in the Middle East, which has been going on for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and which I've been trying to solve with thousands of pounds of bombs,"
Downing the US warplane came after a series of severe hits that the United States suffered following major events in Lebanon.
At that time, Lebanon was in the midst of a fierce sectarian war. The Lebanese factions were fighting in huge numbers, which prompted the Syrian leadership to send the Syrian Arab Army as part of what was known at the time as the "Arab Deterrent Forces".
Washinton paid a heavy price for its intervention.
The American forces (800 US Marines) were part of a large multinational force that arrived under the pretext of helping mediate efforts to conclude peace, but because of its pro-Israel agenda, it found itself embroiled in an open confrontation with Damascus and the Lebanese resistance.
The Marines left Lebanon on September 10 but returned in strengthened numbers on September 29, following the massacre that was facilitated by the Israeli Army and committed by the Lebanese Forces Party against Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps.
On April 18, 1983, a Chevrolet pickup truck loaded with about 2,000 pounds of explosives sped through the gate of the US embassy in West Beirut and struck the building, killing 63 individuals including eight of the top officers of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
On October 23rd, another booby-trapped car broke into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 US military personnel. The bomb, which was made of a sophisticated explosive enhanced by gas, had an explosive power equivalent to 18,000 pounds of dynamite.
That same morning, 58 French soldiers were killed in their barracks two miles away in a separate attack.
Israel took advantage of the Lebanese civil war to invade Lebanon but was confronted by the Syrian Arab Army and the Lebanese resistance.
Besides the Israeli losses due to the fierce confrontations with SAA along with the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance, Israel was subject to several devastating attacks targeting its military camps and headquarters.
On November 11, Ariel Sharon was shocked when a huge explosion destroyed the Israeli Army's headquarters in Tyre, south of Lebanon, which killed dozens of Israeli soldiers along with Lebanese and Palestinian captives. His dreams were collapsing on the Lebanese war's rocks.
"Of course, it was a tremendous shock to the Americans, to Gorge Shultz personally I think. A small country like Syria to stand up against the mighty United States, and say: No, you will not prevail, and of course, that was what Assad left off. He alone among the Arab leaders who refused to bend a knee, and refused to accept dictates from the United States, and from Israel.", Patrick Seale said.
On December 6, 1983, the Syrian air defense shot down a US drone over Lebanon, the BQM-74 that was launched in an attempt to detect the positions of the Syrian air defenses in Lebanon, was shipped to the Soviet Union at the time to be examined.
Syria offered more than twelve thousand martyrs to preserve Lebanon's unity and impose stability and peace.
Israel finally withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, declaring its defeat and Lebanon's great victory over the occupation.
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