Operation Mole Cricket 19

Operation Mole Cricket 19
	Part of the 1982 Lebanon War
	; Part of a Syrian SA-6 site built near the Beirut-Damascus highway, and overlooking the Beqaa Valley, in early 1982.
Date	June 9, 1982
Location	Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
Result	Israeli victory
Belligerents
Israel (IAF)	Syria (SAAF)
Commanders and leaders
David Ivry; Ariel Sharon	Mustafa Tlass; Hafez al-Assad
Strength
90 aircraft (mostly F-15s and F-16s); 1 remotely piloted vehicle squadron; UAVs	100 aircraft (mostly ground attack MiG-21 and MiG-23, some MiG-23M air-to-air fighters); 30 SAM batteries
Casualties and losses
2 F-15 damaged; At least 1 UAV shot down	82–86 planes shot down; 29 SAM batteries destroyed

Operation Mole Cricket 19 (Hebrew: מבצע ערצב-19, romanized: Mivtza ʻArtzav Tsha-Esreh) was a suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) campaign launched by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) against Syrian targets on June 9, 1982, at the outset of the 1982 Lebanon War. The operation was the first time in history that a Western-equipped air force successfully destroyed a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile (SAM) network. It also became one of the biggest air battles since World War II, and the biggest since the Korean War. The result was a decisive Israeli victory.

The IAF began working on a SAM suppression operation at the end of the Yom Kippur War. Rising tensions between Israel and Syria over Lebanon escalated in the early 1980s and culminated in Syria deploying SAM batteries in the Beqaa Valley. On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, and on the third day of the war, with clashes ongoing between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Syrian Army, Israel decided to launch the operation.

The battle lasted about two hours, and involved innovative tactics and technology. By the end of the day, the IAF had destroyed 29 of 30 SAM batteries deployed in the Beqaa Valley, and shot down 82–86 enemy aircraft, with minimal losses of its own. The battle led the United States to impose a ceasefire on Israel and Syria.