On 19 February 1978,Egyptian special forces raidedLarnaca International Airport nearLarnaca,Cyprus, in an attempt to intervene in ahijacking. Earlier, two assassins had killed prominent Egyptian newspaper editorYusuf Sibai and then captured as hostages several Arabs who were attending a convention inNicosia.^[3] As Cypriot forces were trying to negotiate with the hostage-takers at the airport, Egyptian troops began their own assault without authorization from the Cypriots. The unauthorized raid resulted in the Egyptians and the Cypriots exchanging gunfire, killing or injuring more than 20 of the Egyptian commandos.^[3] As a result, Egypt and Cyprus severedpolitical ties for several years after the incident.

During the late hours of 18 February 1978, Yusuf Sibai, editor of a prominentEgyptian newspaperAl-Ahram and a friend of theEgyptian president,Anwar Sadat, wasassassinated by two gunmen at a convention being held at theNicosia Hilton. The two assassins captured 16 Arab convention delegates as hostages (among them, twoPLO representatives and one Egyptian national) and demanded transportation toLarnaca International Airport. They also demanded and were supplied with aCyprus AirwaysDouglas DC-8 aircraft. After negotiations with the Cypriot authorities, the hijackers were allowed to fly the aircraft out of Cyprus with 11 hostages and four crew members. The aircraft, however, was denied permission to land inDjibouti,Syria andSaudi Arabia and was forced to return and land inCyprus a few hours later. Among the hostages was an aide to PLO leaderYasser Arafat who telephoned Cypriot PresidentSpyros Kyprianou and offered the services of a twelve-man squad ofForce 17 gunmen. Kyprianou accepted and dispatched an airliner to Beirut to pick them up. The squad was kept out of sight inside the terminal in case the situation with the hijackers deteriorated. Later, there were reports that Arafat's men participated with the shooting of the Egyptian commandos, but Cyprus officials insisted that the PLO squad never fired a shot.^[4]

According to a report inTime magazine, Sadat was aggrieved by the assassination of his personal friend and soon after Arafat's call, begged Kyprianou to rescue the hostages and extradite the terrorists to Cairo.^[4] Kyprianou responded by promising to oversee the rescue operation and any negotiations personally, and travelled to the airport himself. According to the same report however, Sadat dispatched Task Force 777 from an elitecommando unit to Cyprus aboard aC-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Cairo merely informed Kyprianou that "people are on the way to help rescue the hostages" and did not reveal who was aboard nor what their intentions were.^[5] Upon landing in Cyprus, the Egyptian force immediately began an assault, dispatching a singleJeep all-terrain vehicle with three men to race ahead of an estimated 58 troops (another report has this figure at 74^[6]) moving towards the hijacked aircraft on foot.

As the Egyptian troops advanced quickly towards the hijacked DC-8 aircraft and theCypriot special forces (LOK) who surrounded it, the LOK reportedly issued a single verbal warning to halt and submit, though in other reports, the Cypriots issued two verbal warnings, the second demand for the Egyptians to return to their aircraft. As this occurred, the occupants of the Jeep and the Cypriot operators exchanged gunfire, and the Egyptian Jeep was struck by arocket propelled grenade (RPG), as well as gunfire, killing all three occupants. As the vehicle came to a halt, the Cypriots and the main Egyptian force confronted each other at a range of less than 300 metres (330 yd), and it is variously reported that the Egyptians, who lacked any form of cover, dropped down onto the tarmac inprone firing positions. At this moment, the two forces engaged each other with heavy gunfire, and the Cypriots opened fire on the Egyptian C-130H aircraft with a 106 mm anti-tankM40 recoilless rifle, striking it in the nose and killing the three crew on board.^[7][8]

With their aircraft destroyed, the Egyptian force and the Cypriot special forces exchanged gunfire for nearly an hour in sporadic fighting on the opentarmac. Some of the Egyptian troops took cover in a nearby emptyAir France aircraft.

Kyprianou, who was watching the events from the airport control tower, was forced to withdraw from the windows and take cover as Egyptian commandos shot at the tower with automatic gunfire.

Of the Egyptian commando force, 15 men were killed, in addition to three crew of the C-130H Hercules.^[9][8] An estimated 15 more Egyptian commandos were reported to have been taken injured to Larnaca General Hospital with gunshot wounds.^[10]

After the assault, it was learned that the surrender of the two hostage-takers had already been secured at the time of the failed Egyptian attack, and the two men were taken prisoner by the Cypriots and later extradited to Egypt, where they received death sentences, later commuted to life sentences.

On 20 February, Egypt recalled its diplomatic mission and requested the Cypriot government to do the same in Cairo. Cyprus requested the withdrawal of Egypt's military attaché.^[11] Egypt and Cyprus severed political ties for several years after the incident, until Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

Kyprianou offered reconciliation and apologies, but maintained that Cyprus could not have allowed the Egyptians to act.^[3] Other Arab countries such as Syria and Libya denounced Egypt's action.^[12]

As a consequence of the disaster, the Egyptian government formed a dedicatedcounter-terrorist unit within the El-Sa'ka Forces which was named after the Egyptian task force. Seven years later, they would be dispatched on a similar mission to Malta to storm ahijacked Egyptian airliner, another botched operation that resulted in the death of dozens of passengers.

• EgyptAir Flight 648

• "1978: Egyptian forces die in Cyprus gunfight".

. 19 February 2008.

• Accident report.Aviation Safety Network.

• Battles involving Cyprus
• 1978 in Cyprus
• 1978 in Egypt
• Military operations involving Egypt
• International incidents
• Cyprus–Egypt relations
• February 1978 in Europe
• Military operations involving airports
• Aircraft hijackings in Europe
• Operations involving special forces
• Attacks on airports in Cyprus
• Attacks on buildings and structures in 1978
• Conflicts in 1978
• Military raids
• Military history of Cyprus

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