User:XavierGreen/Sandbox16

Sinking of the Antivarius
Date 19 April 1985 Location {{{place}}} Result Israeli victory
Belligerents
Israel	PLO
Commanders and leaders
unknown	unknown
Strength
6 gunboats	1 freighter
Casualties and losses
None	1 freighter sunk 20 killed 8 captured

The Sinking of the Aatavarius was a naval engagement between the Isreali navy and Palestinian Liberation Organization forces on 19 April 1985.

Background

By 1985, the PLO had been driven from its bases in Lebanon and its headquarters had been moved to Tunis after being driven out of Lebanon 1982_Lebanon_War. Eager to renew its offensive operations against Israel, the PLO requested and received permission its backer, the Syrian Government, to conduct a commando raid on Tel Aviv. Commandos from Fatah's secretice Force 17 unit were to sail to Israel from Algiers on a purchased freighter where they would be transferred to the shore using rubber boats. The Palestinians were then to hijack a bus which they would utilize to get to the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv, their primary target. A Panamanian flagged freighter, the Antivarius was subsequently purchased and a group of PLO commandos equipped with machine guns, anti tank weaponry, and AK-47s were flown into Algiers where they boarded the Antivarius and set sail for the Israeli coast.