Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the Upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) forces led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji and a Syrian battalion. The operation, which lasted 60 hours (October 29–31), was marked by heavy fighting between Arabs and Jews, and ended just before the ceasefire with the neighboring Arab countries went into effect.
| Operation Hiram | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War | |||||||||
IDF soldiers in Sa'sa', 30 October 1948 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Arab Liberation Army Syria Lebanon | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Moshe Carmel | Fawzi al-Qawuqji | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 6,000 | 2,000–4,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Light |
400 killed 550 captured | ||||||||
| 50,000 Palestinian refugees | |||||||||
As a result of the operation, the Upper Galilee, originally slated by the United Nations partition plan to be part of an Arab state, would be controlled by the newly formed state of Israel, and more than 50,000 new Palestinian refugees were expelled from their homes.