be disguised as women (Barak was disguised as a brunette woman). This was at the suggestion of Elazar, who was concerned that a group of men moving through Beirut at midnight would raise suspicion. In addition to the assassination mission, four PLO facilities were to be attacked. To maintain the element of surprise, the apartments of the three targets would have to be breached before the other attacks could begin. Before the mission, the forces trained using similar apartments in northern Tel Aviv. They also practiced cross-dressing and walking around disguised as lovers. Meanwhile, Mossad agents in Beirut gathered additional intelligence for the raid. Nielsen selected the private beach of the Sands Hotel as the landing site since access was restricted to guests and it was close to the hotel's parking lot, where the commandos could be picked up by Mossad agents. Brigadier General Emmanuel Shaked, the commander of the IDF's infantry and paratrooper forces, was placed in overall command of the operation. On April 6, 1973, six Mossad operatives arrived in Beirut on counterfeit British, German, and Belgian passports. They checked into the Sands Hotel, rented cars, and parked them in the hotel's parking lot. The operation On April 9, 1973, eight Israeli Navy missile boats departed from Haifa naval base, carrying 75 soldiers - 21 Sayeret Matkal commandos, 34 Shayetet 13 naval commandos, and 20 soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade's Sayeret Tzanhanim unit - and 19 Zodiac speedboats on board. They dropped anchor twelve miles off the coast of Beirut. Meanwhile, one of the Mossad operatives at the Sands Hotel met with Nielsen, who confirmed that the three targets were at home, and this information was radioed to the attacking force, after which the operation began. The Zodiac boats carrying the raiding party set out for the shore. To avoid being heard, they turned the motors off when they were a few hundred meters from land and rowed the rest of the way in. The Shayetet 13 commandos carried raiders disguised as tourists onto dry land so that they wouldn't get wet and ruin their disguises, particularly those dressed as women, as they were wearing heavy makeup. They met the Mossad agents waiting in the parking lot with the vehicles, and were driven to their targets. The soldiers responsible for carrying out the assassinations were dropped off two blocks from their targets and walked the rest of the