Israel's 1992 assassination plot against Saddam Hussein was abandoned after five commandos died in a training accident, exposing the operation's existence.
Key Facts
- Operation name
- Operation Bramble Bush (מבצע שיח אטד)
- Year planned
- 1992
- Commandos killed in rehearsal
- 5
- Training accident name
- Tze'elim Bet disaster (אסון צאלים ב')
- First full disclosure
- December 2003, Yedioth Ahronoth
- Initial news reports
- January 1999
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Iraq's Scud missile attacks on Israel during the Gulf War prompted Israeli planners to seek retaliation. Post-war UN inspections further revealed that Iraq had been years away from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons capability, heightening Israeli concerns that Saddam Hussein would continue pursuing such programs.
Israeli intelligence and military planners devised Operation Bramble Bush, a covert mission to assassinate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. During the final rehearsal at the Tze'elim training ground, an accident killed five Israeli commandos, fatally compromising the operation's secrecy and feasibility.
The operation was called off following the fatal training accident. The incident, known in Israel as the Tze'elim Bet disaster, remained largely secret until news reports surfaced in January 1999, with the full account published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in December 2003.
Human Cost
Each dot represents approximately 10,000 deaths. Total estimated: 5 (other)