Operation Storm-333

Operation Storm-333
Part of the Soviet-Afghan War
The Tajbeg Palace in 1987
Date 27 December 1979 Location Tajbeg Palace, Kabul, Afghanistan Result Soviet victory Overthrow and assassination of Hafizullah Amin Installment of pro-Soviet, Parcham-dominated government led by Babrak Karmal
Belligerents
Soviet Union	D.R. Afghanistan
Commanders and leaders
Capt. Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov Col. Grigoriy Boyarinov † Viktor Fyodorovich Karpukhin	Hafizullah Amin †
Units involved
KGB Alpha Group Zenith Group GRU 154th OSN GRU ("Muslim" Battalion) Soviet Airborne Troops 345th Airborne Rgt	Army National Guards Presidential Guard
Strength
Official total: 661 54 Alpha/Zenith operators 87 Paratroopers 520 "Muslim" Battalion Over 700 KGB operators (acc. Vasili Mitrokhin)	2200
Casualties and losses
Official killed: 5 KGB operators 6 "Muslim" Battalion 9 paratroopers Official wounded: 32 KGB operators Vasili Mitrokhin puts it at over 100	Hafizullah Amin, his son and 200 Army National Guards/Presidential Guards killed

Soviet victory

KGB

GRU

Soviet Airborne Troops

Official killed:
5 KGB operators
6 "Muslim" Battalion
9 paratroopers
Official wounded:
32 KGB operators

Operation Storm-333 (Шторм-333, Shtorm-333) was an operation that took place on 27 December 1979, in which Soviet Union forces stormed the Tajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and captured Afghan President Hafizullah Amin. An unknown number of Afghan palace guards were killed while 150 were captured. Amin's 11-year-old son died from shrapnel wounds. The Soviets installed Babrak Karmal as Amin's successor.

Several other government buildings were seized during the operation, including the Ministry of Interior building, the Internal Security (KHAD) building, and the General Staff building (Darul Aman Palace). Alpha Group veterans call this operation one of the most successful in the group's history.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was initially led by Nur Muhammad Taraki, who was pro-Soviet Union, so Afghan–Soviet relations were friendly. In September 1979, Taraki was deposed by Hafizullah Amin, due to intra-party strife. After this event and the suspicious death of Taraki (an apparent assassination by Amin's followers), Afghan–Soviet relations started to deteriorate; by December the Soviet leadership had established an alliance with Babrak Karmal. The Soviet Union declared its plan to intervene in Afghanistan on 12 December 1979, and the Soviet leadership initiated Operation Storm-333 (the first phase of the intervention) on 27 December 1979.

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Wikipedia