Israel’s most elite special operations force, Sayeret Matkal, is being prepped for extremely dangerous hostage-rescue missions in the Gaza Strip.
Sayeret Matkal, also called General Staff Reconnaissance Unit 269, is an elite commando unit of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
The unit was established in 1957 at the initiative of its first commander, Avraham Arnan.
It is modelled on the UK’s Special Air Service, or SAS, a Special Forces unit of the British army, taking the unit’s motto “Who Dares Wins”.
Sayeret Matkal is a field intelligence-gathering unit that conducts deep reconnaissance behind enemy lines and is also tasked with counter-terrorism and hostage rescue beyond Israel’s borders.
It Is directly subordinate to the Special Operations Branch of the IDF’s Directorate of Military Intelligence.
Israel only acknowledged its existence in the 1980s.
They have been known to work in conjunction with other elite Israeli units such as Sayeret Tzanhanim, Flotilla 13, and Sayeret Golani.
