After five months of careful planning and several trial runs, Operation Truthful Promise was underway.

Having successfully crossed into Israel undetected, the commandos hurried 200 meters over dry borderland to milepost 105 on a deserted border road between the villages of Zar’it and Shetula. This position offered Hizbullah an ideal location for mounting an ambush. On one side of the road, was an overgrown wadi, which the ambushers used for cover and concealment as they observed the road and their designated kill zone. Additionally, the rough terrain produced a blind spot for nearby Israeli border posts, reducing the likelihood that the ambushers would receive direct fire from an Israeli position outside of the kill zone.[1] To reduce the likelihood of detection further, Hizbullah snipers in south Lebanon engaged and destroyed surveillance cameras along the border roads. Small groups of fighters also launched a series of diversionary attacks that distracted Israeli quick reaction forces that were mustering along the border.[2]

While their comrades conducted diversionary attacks, the ambushers at milepost 105 silently waited, hidden within the wadi, waiting for their enemy to step into their trap. East of the kill zone, a pair of Israeli Humvees that carried eight reservists, just hours from ending their tour of duty, headed toward the trap. As the Humvees closed on the ambushers, the lead vehicle struck a large IED, initiating the ambush.[3] Rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) shrieked across the road and ripped through the thin armor of the lead Humvee, engulfing the crewmembers in an inferno. Bullets and shrapnel peppered the trail vehicle that carried Staff Sergeant (SSG) Goldwasser and SSG Regev, wounding them and the other stunned passengers. Amid the smoke and confusion, several ambushers rushed by the smoldering remains of the lead vehicle and snatched Goldwasser and Regev. With their victims in hand, the Hizbullah fighters withdrew across the border before Israeli reinforcements arrived.[4] Operation Truthful Promise had succeeded.
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Andrew Chadwick is an Army ROTC cadet at the University of Maryland in College Park, where he also studies Military History. In May 2013, CDT Chadwick will commission as an officer in the Army Reserves. Cadet Chadwick holds an MA in International Security from the University of Denver and a BA in Political Science from the University of Saint Mary. CDT Chadwick previously served two years in the Maryland Army National Guard as a Combat Engineer.