Operation Shoter

Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Date	24–26 July 1948
Location	Little Triangle (Ayn Ghazal–Ijzim–Jaba')
Result	Israeli victory, depopulation of the Little Triangle

Belligerents

Israel

Local Arab militia

Commanders and leaders

Ben Zion Fridan (33rd)

Strength

Reinforced battalion

~800

Operation Shoter (Hebrew: מִבְצָע שׁוֹטֵר‎, Mivtza Shoter, lit. Operation Policeman), also Operation Jaba', was a three-day Israeli operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against an area called the "Little Triangle" south of Haifa. It was launched a week after the start of the second truce imposed by United Nations. The operation was carried out by units from the Golani, Carmeli and Alexandroni brigades with supporting troops, under the overall command of Alexandroni's 33rd Battalion. Arab forces consisted of local militia which was not part of any regular army. The objective of the operation was to clear the Tel Aviv – Haifa Road, which had been closed by the Arabs to Israeli traffic. The Israelis had been forced to take a long and dangerous route to the east through Wadi Milk.

The Israeli forces attacked on July 24 and throughout July 25 failed to take the villages due to stiff resistance and poor planning. Following heavy artillery shelling and bombing from the air, the Little Triangle's defenses broke and the three villages surrendered on July 26. The operation caused the depopulation of the Little Triangle, which according to a United Nations report consisted of 8,000 people. United Nations observers toured the destroyed villages after the attack and found no evidence of a massacre as claimed by Arab sources, although they concluded that the assault on the Little Triangle was unjustified.

The Arab villages of Mount Carmel served as staging points for attacks on Jewish traffic in the three roads surrounding them, especially on the Tel Aviv – Haifa Road, during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The road and its surrounding area was the site of frequent skirmishes between Arab and Jewish forces. After the Haganah captured Haifa in April 1948, momentum shifted in its favor, and it was slowly able to capture all of the villages outlooking the road: the Druze villages allied themselves with the Haganah, and Balad ash-Sheikh, Umm az-Zinat and Tantura were captured in April–May, 1948. Tira was taken on July 16.

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