Operation Shmone | |||||||
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Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War | |||||||
The Iraq Suwaydan police fort | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Israel (IDF) | Egypt | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Yitzhak Sadeh (8th Brig.) | |||||||
Operation Shmone (Hebrew: מִבְצָע שְׁמוֹנֶה, Mivtza Shmone, lit. Eight) was an Israeli military operation conducted against the Egyptian-held police fort of Iraq Suwaydan in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The battle was fought between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army on 9 November 1948, and ended in an Israeli victory, following numerous previous Israeli attempts to capture the fort, two of them in Operation Yoav just weeks before.
The Israeli 8th and Givati brigades attacked the fort in broad daylight following a heavy artillery barrage. After a hole was blown through the wall of the fort, the Egyptian forces surrendered. The capture of the fort led to the Egyptian evacuation of Bayt 'Affa and other nearby positions, reducing the besieged Fallujah Pocket to the villages of Fallujah and Iraq al-Manshiyya.