The Last People You Want To Be Rescued By

The bloody (and as yet, unresolved) Amenas gas plant siege in Algeria has reminded me of some incidents in the 1970s/80s which demonstrate that the Algerians still have some way to go before they take over as the people you would least want to be rescued by.

That dubious honour must remain, for the time being, with the Egyptian special forces outfit, Unit 777...

Exhibit 1 - The Larnaca Debacle

On 18 February 1978, two gunmen burst into a convention being held in Larnaca, Cyprus, and shot dead the Egyptian newspaper editor and author Youssef el-Sebai - a close friend of the then Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat - before taking 16 hostages and demanding an aircraft to fly them out of the country. Though the Cypriot government bowed to their demands, the DC-8 in which they fled was refused permission to land in multiple countries and had to return to Cyprus or run out of fuel. There it was surrounded by airport police and the 33MK commando unit of the Cypriot National Guard.

Youssef el-Sebai, whose killing precipitated the crisis

Under pressure from President Sadat, who had taken a personal interest in the apprehension of the murderers of Sebai, the Cypriot president, Spyros Kyprianou, assumed direct command of the situation, and began negotiating with the hijackers from the control tower at Larnaca airport. Sadat informed him that an Egyptian hostage rescue team was on its way, but the Egyptians neither discussed their plans with the Cypriot authorities nor sought permission for an armed assault.

Anwar Sadat

The sixty-strong rescue force, drawn from the Egyptian Army's elite anti-terrorist force, Unit 777, arrived at Larnaca airport on Feb 19. As soon as their C-130 Hercules landed, and making no attempt to consult with the Cypriot authorities, they immediately disembarked and advanced towards the DC-8, mostly on foot but with a single jeep in advance. As the jeep approached the Cypriot positions, it was challenged (once or twice, depending on the source) by the troops surrounding the aircraft, but continued advancing and was fired upon. After a brief exchange of small arms fire, the jeep was hit by a rocket propelled grenade and its three occupants killed.

The scene by the Egyptian jeep: Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This signalled a full-on firefight between the remaining Egyptian troops, approaching on foot with very little cover, and the ring of Cypriot guardsmen and police. During the chaos, an anti-tank missile destroyed the nose of the Egyptian transport plane, killing the three crew, and a further nine Unit 777 commandos were killed by Cypriot gunfire. The Egyptians fired on the control tower, leaving the Cypriot President sheltering on the floor behind the control consoles, and some of them took cover in an empty Air France jet - but after a further hour of sporadic exchanges, the Egyptians were forced to surrender.

Egyptian casualties - 15 dead, 15 wounded
Cypriot casualties - none

Yes, the Egyptian Army's elite special forces unit had been "pwned" by the Cypriot National Guard.

And as for the assassins who had triggered this all? They had agreed to surrender shortly before the Egyptian assault, and were ultimately extradited to Egypt and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison.

After that, the Egyptians and Cypriots didn't talk to each other for a few years. President Sadat called President Kyprianou a "political dwarf".

Not seeing the resemblance to Gimli, really..

Exhibit 2 - The Luqa Massacre

If Larnaca was a bloody farce, the next involvement of Unit 777 in an overseas hostage crisis was a tragedy.

Seven years later, on 23 November 1985, an Air Egypt Boeing 737 took off from Athens, Greece bound for Cairo; ten minutes into the flight, however, three men armed with handguns and grenades seized control of the aircraft, calling themselves The Egyptian Revolution (though they were in fact Palestinians, and members of the Abu Nidal terrorist organisation). They began checking the passengers' passports, but this was interrupted by a gunfight with a plain clothes security officer during which one hijacker was killed, and the security officer and two stewardesses injured. The gunfire also holed the cabin, and the aircraft began losing pressurisation, forcing pilot Hani Galal to descend rapidly to 14,000 feet.

 Hijackers' leader, Omar Rezaq

The hijackers had originally intended to divert to Libya, but the plane was not carrying enough fuel, so instead they forced the pilot to make for Malta. Malta, however, had a policy of refusing to allow hijacked aircraft to land; not only did they refuse the 737 permission to land, but they turned off the landing lights on the runway. Nevertheless, the aircraft put down safely at Luqa airport, where it was surrounded by Maltese troops.

Maltese Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici

The Maltese hoped to end the crisis without bloodshed, particularly as they had good relations with the Arab world, and negotiations were conducted from the control tower by Prime Minister Mifsud Bonnici. Nevertheless, the hijackers' requests for the 737 to be refuelled were refused, and the Maltese seem to have had no coherent plan as to how to respond should this lead to a deterioration of the situation. Though 11 passengers - and the injured flight attendants - were released, the hijackers' leader, Omar Rezaq, threatened to start killing hostages unless the plane were refuelled and the security forces withdrawn. Over a short period of time, five passengers - two Israeli women, and three Americans - were then shot, two fatally.

 Jackie Pflug was shot in the head by Omar Rezaq, but survived.

The Maltese authorities were now under heavy pressure to allow an armed foreign intervention, which had been offered by France, Britain and the United States as well as Egypt. They were wary, given their non-aligned status and carefully cultivated relationship with Arab states, of accepting assistance from Western countries, but feared that if nothing was done the US would act unilaterally, especially as it had forces nearby (in Sicily, and on board elements of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean). Reassured by the US that the Egyptian Unit 777 commando forces had been extensively trained by the USA's Delta Force counter-terror unit, the Maltese gave permission for them to mount a rescue mission, led by American officers, and based around a deception involving the reprovisioning of the aircraft.

The Egyptian C-130 Hercules used to transport the commandos.

The Egyptians, however, unilaterally decided to act alone, and without using the planned deception, an hour and a half before the scheduled attack. Approaching the aircraft from the rear, the Unit 777 troops planted explosives to allow entry through the tail; but they not only used too much explosive, but set off oxygen bottles in the cargo section, causing extensive damage to the aircraft and starting a large fire. Twenty passengers are thought to have died as a result of this and from the startled hijackers throwing grenades into the cabin as the assault began. More died as the Egyptians entered the passenger compartment, apparently more focused on taking down the hijackers than on the safeguarding of the hostages. By the time the firing stopped, 56 passengers, 2 crew and 1 hijacker were dead. Omar Rezaq managed to divest himself of his weapons and ammunition and blend in with the wounded passengers; but the Egyptians tracked him down in St. Luke's Hospital and captured him whilst holding the medical staff at gunpoint. Only 32 of the passengers on board at the time of the assault survived.

The EgyptAir 737 smoking on the tarmac at Luqa.

In the aftermath of this second botched operation, Unit 777 was disbanded; but it has since been reinstated and continues to train with Delta Force and the French GIGN counter terror unit.

Let's be fair - rescuing hostages from armed fanatics is never going to be a simple or risk free business. But Unit 777, with their reckless aggression, inept use of explosives and cavalier disregard for liaison with local forces, must rank as the group you would least want to be rescued by...