Golani Brigade

Based on Wikipedia: Golani Brigade

On the morning of October 6, 1973, most of the Golani Brigade's soldiers were either on leave for Yom Kippur or preparing for a ceremony. Within hours, they would be fighting for their lives as Syrian forces poured across the Golan Heights in a surprise attack that caught the entire Israeli military off guard. The brigade's position on Mount Hermon—nicknamed "the eyes of the country" for its strategic observation value—was overrun. It would take two bloody weeks and multiple failed assaults before they could take it back.

This is the story of Israel's first infantry brigade, an outfit that has fought in every major conflict since the nation's founding and produced three of its top military commanders.

Born in the Chaos of 1948

The Golani Brigade came into existence on February 22, 1948, just three months before Israel would declare independence and immediately face invasion by five Arab armies. At the time, there was no Israel Defense Forces—just the Haganah, the underground Jewish paramilitary organization that had operated under British Mandate rule.

The Haganah's leadership knew independence was coming and drafted Plan Dalet, which reorganized their fighting forces into six regional brigades. The Levanoni Brigade, covering the north, was split in two: Carmeli took the northwest, and Golani took the northeast.

Golani's territory included some of the most contested ground in what would become Israel. The Lower Galilee. The Jezreel Valley. The Jordan Valley and the Hula Valley. Major cities like Safed, Tiberias, Beit She'an, and Nazareth—all places where Jewish and Arab populations lived in close, increasingly hostile proximity.

The brigade's name comes from the Golan Heights, the volcanic plateau that rises east of the Sea of Galilee and dominates the region's geography. The soldiers wear brown berets and their symbol is a green olive tree against a yellow background—the olive being one of the seven species mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as characterizing the Land of Israel.

The First Test: Holding the Line

Before Israel even declared independence, Golani was already fighting. During the civil war phase of the 1948 conflict—when Jewish and Arab militias battled while the British were still technically in control—the brigade participated in battles for the mixed cities of the north.

Tiberias. Safed. Places where Jews and Arabs had lived as neighbors now became battlegrounds.

The 12th Battalion captured al-Shajara on May 6, 1948. The 13th took Beit She'an less than a week later. These early operations established a pattern that would define the brigade: aggressive infantry action in difficult terrain, often against entrenched defenders.

When the Arab states invaded on May 15, 1948, Golani's first major action was defensive. Syrian forces attacked the kibbutzim of Degania Alef and Degania Bet—agricultural settlements positioned along the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. These were not military bases but farming communities, though by 1948 most kibbutzim had developed their own defensive capabilities out of necessity.

The Syrians came with armor. Golani, with reinforcements from the Palmach (the elite strike force of the Haganah), had infantry and desperation. They held.

To the south, Iraqi forces attacked at Gesher. Golani repelled them too.

With the immediate threat contained, the brigade went on the offensive. They attacked Arab villages throughout their sector, culminating in an assault on Jenin together with the Carmeli Brigade on June 2, 1948. They took the city. Then the Iraqi Army took it back.

This back-and-forth would characterize the entire war. Ground gained, ground lost, ground regained. Truces declared and broken. Nothing was permanent until everything was.

From Galilee to Eilat

Between the first and second truces of the 1948 war—a ten-day window in July when the ceasefire collapsed—Golani helped capture Nazareth. They repelled an attack by the Arab Liberation Army, a volunteer force of Arabs from across the Middle East that had come to fight against the new Jewish state.

In October, during Operation Hiram, the brigade pushed into the upper Galilee, capturing village after village from the Arab Liberation Army's First Yarmouk Battalion.

Then, in December, they were transferred south. Completely different terrain, completely different enemy.

The Egyptians held the Gaza Strip and the Negev desert. Golani fought them at Hill 86, around Rafah, in conditions utterly unlike the green hills of Galilee. The brigade had been formed for northern operations. Now they were learning desert warfare on the job.

The war's final operation came in March 1949. Golani, together with the 7th Armored Brigade, was tasked with capturing Umm Rashrash—a strategic point at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba that would become the city of Eilat. They advanced through the Arabah, the desolate rift valley running south from the Dead Sea.

The 7th Armored arrived first. Golani pulled in two hours later.

With that, the war was over.

The Bitter Years Between Wars

The 1950s brought no peace, just the absence of declared war. Israel's borders were porous and contested. Infiltrators crossed regularly—sometimes refugees trying to return to homes they had fled, sometimes fedayeen (the Arabic term for guerrilla fighters who sacrifice themselves, literally "those who redeem themselves").

Golani participated in the reprisal raids that became Israel's primary response to these incursions. The logic was deterrence: make the cost of harboring infiltrators high enough that Arab governments and villages would police their own borders.

In 1951, a Syrian patrol entered the demilitarized zone near Tel Mutilla. What began as a skirmish escalated into a five-day battle. Golani reinforced the reserve battalion already engaged and fought until the Syrians withdrew.

The cost: 40 dead, 72 wounded.

This single engagement led to significant changes in how the IDF operated. It was one of the catalysts for creating Unit 101, the special forces outfit that would later merge with the paratroopers and be commanded by a young officer named Ariel Sharon.

By October 1955, tensions with Egypt had reached a breaking point. After a border incident near the Auja al-Hafir demilitarized zone, Golani led Operation Volcano—the largest military operation since independence. Egypt was learning that the IDF of 1955 was not the improvised militia of 1948.

The Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War

In 1956, Israel joined Britain and France in attacking Egypt after President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Golani's assignment: capture the area around Rafah, near the Gaza Strip.

The 51st Battalion—originally formed as part of the Givati Brigade but transferred to Golani—led the assault on Rafah Junction. They drove into a minefield under Egyptian artillery fire. The officers ordered the men to abandon their vehicles and continue on foot while combat engineers slowly cleared a path for the trucks behind them.

They took the position.

The other battalions captured additional Egyptian positions around Rafah. The operation succeeded, though international pressure—primarily from the United States and Soviet Union—eventually forced Israel, Britain, and France to withdraw from Egyptian territory.

The years between Suez and the next major war saw Golani return to smaller operations, mostly against Syria. In 1960, they destroyed the abandoned village of al-Tawafiq, which the Syrians had been using as a military base overlooking Israeli territory. In 1962, Operation Swallow targeted Syrian positions at Nuqeib on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, responding to constant harassment of Israeli fishermen.

Then came June 1967.

Six Days That Changed Everything

The Six-Day War transformed the Middle East's map and Israel's strategic position. For Golani, it meant fighting on two fronts in rapid succession.

On June 7, the third day of the war, Golani units joined armored forces assaulting Nablus in the West Bank. They captured the city by three in the afternoon. But the brigade's main effort was always meant to be elsewhere.

The Golan Heights. Syrian territory. The high ground that had allowed Syrian artillery to shell Israeli communities below for nineteen years.

On June 9, the assault began. The 51st Battalion crossed the border and advanced north along Syrian patrol roads. Their objectives had names that would become legend in Israeli military history: Tel Azaziyat, Bahriat, Khirbet as-Suda.

At Tel Azaziyat, the soldiers drove into a minefield and had to abandon their half-tracks. They advanced on foot into the Syrian trenches. The battle lasted less than an hour. The Syrians surrendered.

The 12th Battalion faced a harder fight at Tel Faher and Burj Babil. The Syrians at Tel Faher resisted fiercely. Golani had to bring in reinforcements from multiple units—the 2nd Company from Burj Babil, the reconnaissance unit from the southeast. By early evening, the position was Israeli.

Just before dawn on June 10, the 51st Battalion captured Banias, the ancient city at the headwaters of the Jordan River. The war ended later that day.

Golani's bill: 59 dead, 160 wounded. Almost half the casualties—23 men—fell at Tel Faher alone.

The War of Attrition

The Six-Day War's decisive victories created a new set of problems. Israel now controlled the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. The Arab states had lost armies and territory but not their determination to reverse the outcome.

What followed was not peace but a grinding war of attrition, primarily along the Suez Canal with Egypt and along the Lebanese border with Palestinian fedayeen groups.

Golani, based in the north, focused on the Palestinian threat. The fedayeen had established bases in Jordan, Lebanon, and the newly occupied West Bank. They launched raids into Israel, planted bombs, and attacked civilian targets.

The IDF responded with cross-border operations designed to destroy fedayeen infrastructure and raise the cost of hosting Palestinian militants.

In May 1969, Golani's reconnaissance unit and 12th Battalion raided Wadi al-Yabis in Jordan. They encountered no resistance, destroyed their targets, and withdrew. Two months later, the reconnaissance unit hit the Cone Position—named for a distinctive cone-shaped building—across from Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov. The guerrillas fled, but the Jordanian army opened artillery fire as the Israelis withdrew.

Perhaps the most controversial operation was the destruction of the Ghor Canal. This irrigation system served Jordanian farmers in the Jordan Valley, many of whom lived near fedayeen bases. The calculus was brutal: make life difficult enough for civilians that they would pressure the guerrillas to leave or at least stop launching attacks.

The raid didn't go exactly as planned—the demolition charges detonated prematurely—but the canal was destroyed. Its waters drained into the Yarmouk River.

Operations in Lebanon

The Lebanese front was equally active. In October 1969, Golani hit three villages in southern Lebanon: Itarun, Tel Sadr al-Arus, and Arab Zahiran. Twenty-four buildings destroyed.

In January 1970, after the Palestinian group Fatah kidnapped an elderly guard from the Israeli town of Metula, Golani conducted a retaliatory raid on Kfar Kila. In December of that year, they struck Yatar, a major guerrilla base.

The largest operation came after the Munich Massacre of September 1972, when Palestinian terrorists killed eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games. On September 16, Israeli forces launched Operation Extended Turmoil 4 against bases in southern Lebanon housing an estimated 600 guerrillas. Golani reached the Litani River in the east while paratroopers pushed toward Juwaya in the west.

Most of the guerrillas chose to retreat rather than fight. Over forty were killed.

Entebbe: The Raid That Became Legend

On June 27, 1976, Palestinian and German terrorists hijacked Air France Flight 139, eventually diverting it to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. They held over 100 hostages, most of them Israeli or Jewish passengers, and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Uganda's dictator, Idi Amin, supported the hijackers. Regular Ugandan soldiers supplemented the terrorist guards.

On July 4, 1976—America's bicentennial—Israeli commandos flew over 2,500 miles to rescue the hostages. The operation was led by Sayeret Matkal, the IDF's premier special forces unit, but Golani soldiers participated in the assault.

The raid succeeded spectacularly. Nearly all the hostages were freed. The terrorists were killed. Three hostages died in the crossfire, along with one Israeli soldier: Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, commander of Sayeret Matkal and older brother of future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Entebbe became one of the most celebrated military operations in Israeli history, studied by special forces around the world as an example of long-range hostage rescue.

The Yom Kippur War: Disaster and Redemption

October 6, 1973. Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Much of Israel was fasting and praying. The IDF was at minimal alert.

Egypt and Syria attacked simultaneously.

The surprise was total. In the Golan Heights, a thin screen of Israeli forces faced a massive Syrian armored assault. The Golani Brigade, responsible for the northern sector, was critically undermanned. Most soldiers were on leave. Those preparing for a ceremony suddenly found themselves fighting for survival.

Mount Hermon fell on the first night. The position overlooked both Israeli and Syrian territory, providing observation capabilities that made it invaluable. Its loss was a strategic disaster.

For the next several days, Golani fought desperately to hold ground while armored reinforcements arrived. The Syrians attacked in three major thrusts near Khushniya, Quneitra, and Mas'ada. The brigade created northern and southern task forces, defending critical positions including Nafakh—a junction on the Petroleum Road that could have given the Syrians access to the Bnot Yaakov Bridge and thence into Israel proper.

By October 10, the Golan was back under Israeli control. The Syrians had been pushed beyond the Purple Line—the 1967 ceasefire boundary. But the cost was severe. The 12th Battalion's commander died in the fighting for Mount Varda.

The counteroffensive began October 11. Golani captured village after village as Israeli forces pushed into Syrian territory. The 12th Battalion took Jubata al-Khashab and Tel al-Ahmad. The 51st took Tel ad-Dahur. An attack on Beit Jann failed, but the village of Hadar fell.

Still, Mount Hermon remained in Syrian hands.

Retaking "The Eyes of the Country"

The first attempt to recapture Mount Hermon came on October 8, just two days after it fell. The 17th Battalion took tanks and half-tracks up the mountain's slopes.

The attack failed catastrophically. Twenty-five dead. Fifty-seven wounded.

For thirteen days afterward, Israelis and Syrians exchanged artillery fire on the mountain while commanders planned the next assault. It came on October 21.

Operation Dessert was a joint effort: paratroopers and Golani attacking from multiple directions. The 51st Battalion, the reconnaissance unit, the 17th Battalion, and a motorized battalion all participated. The reconnaissance unit, supported by elements of the 17th, captured the cable car position at dawn.

By eleven in the morning, the 51st Battalion reported that the Israeli position on the Hermon was back in IDF hands.

The war wound down into an attritional phase until disengagement agreements were signed with Egypt and Syria in 1974. Golani, having lost many of its senior officers, was transferred to the Sinai to rebuild and train. They returned to the Golan Heights in early 1975.

Lebanon Again and Again

The 1970s saw continued Golani operations against Palestinian forces in southern Lebanon. In March 1978, after a particularly deadly terrorist attack inside Israel, the IDF launched Operation Litani. Much of Golani moved north to capture the village of al-Hiyam. The 12th Battalion took Marjayoun and Rashaya al-Fukhar. After clearing these objectives, the brigade pushed west along the Litani River, stopping at Abbasiya just east of the coastal city of Tyre.

Four years later came the 1982 invasion, initially called Operation Peace for Galilee but remembered as the First Lebanon War. Golani's 51st Battalion fought near Nabatieh. The reconnaissance unit assaulted Beaufort Castle, a Crusader fortress that the Palestine Liberation Organization had turned into a stronghold.

The war would drag on for years, transforming from a conventional military operation into a grinding occupation and counterinsurgency campaign. Golani, like all IDF units, rotated through Lebanon repeatedly.

A Brigade of Commanders

One measure of a military unit's quality is the caliber of officers it produces. By this standard, Golani stands out even among the IDF's elite formations.

Three of its former commanders went on to become Chief of Staff of the entire Israel Defense Forces—the highest military position in the country. Mordechai Gur, who commanded Golani in the 1960s, later led the IDF during the Entebbe raid. Gabi Ashkenazi commanded the brigade in the 1990s before rising to Chief of Staff. Gadi Eizenkot followed the same path.

Many other Golani commanders reached the rank of aluf, or major general—the second-highest rank in the IDF.

This pattern reflects both the brigade's importance and its function as a proving ground for future leaders. Command of a brigade like Golani, with its history of combat operations and its challenging northern sector, prepares officers for the highest levels of responsibility.

The Character of a Unit

Military units develop distinct personalities over time, shaped by their founding, their battles, their leaders, and their traditions. Golani's character reflects its origins in the Galilee and its long association with the northern frontier.

The soldiers come disproportionately from the development towns and kibbutzim of the north—communities that often feel overlooked by the wealthier, more cosmopolitan center of the country. There is a certain underdog mentality, a pride in toughness and combat effectiveness that doesn't need Tel Aviv's approval.

The brown beret. The olive tree symbol. The fierce loyalty to the brigade and its traditions. These markers of identity matter in a conscript army where most young Israelis serve alongside strangers they met only weeks before.

Today, Golani remains one of five regular infantry brigades in the IDF, alongside the Paratroopers, Nahal, Givati, and Kfir. It is subordinate to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with Northern Command, though like all IDF units it has served throughout Israel's theaters of operation.

The brigade consists of five battalions, including two—the 12th and 13th—that it has maintained since its founding in 1948. The 51st, originally a Givati battalion, has been part of Golani for decades now.

New wars have come since 1982. The Second Lebanon War in 2006. Operations in Gaza. The grinding security operations that have defined Israel's military life in the 21st century. Through all of them, Golani has deployed, fought, and added to a history that stretches back to the chaotic months before Israel was born.

The olive tree on their shoulder patch has weathered many storms. It remains standing.