shayetet 13 was at the center of a sea-borne operation in Lebanon that the navy says took place on Tuesday, with the account emerging on Thursday in Jerusalem time. The move, carried out in Naqoura, marked the first such operation in Lebanon since 2000, and it fits what Israeli military officials describe as a more forward-leaning defense posture after October 7. The navy says shayetet 13 has also been working in tighter coordination with Mossad and the Shin Bet as Israel expands covert action at sea and beyond.
Naqoura operation marks a sharp shift
The navy says the Naqoura operation came amid a broader change in how Israel is using its naval commandos after the October 7 massacre. For ground forces, that shift has meant buffer zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. For the navy, it has meant pushing special forces into more risky and aggressive missions behind enemy lines.
Officials did not provide full operational details, but the disclosure itself signals how far the military says it has moved from older patterns of restraint. The navy said one recent mission sent five Shayetet 13 naval commandos thousands of kilometers away from Israel with no support and no immediate rescue plan if complications arose. In another mission, the navy said it sent Shayetet 13 to a part of the world where it had never operated before.
Shayetet 13 and Mossad expand joint activity
The navy says its joint operations with Mossad have reached new levels in recent years. It did not identify every operation, but it did say the Naval Intelligence Division was directly involved in the killing of Iranian Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri and helped enable IAF strikes against Iranian naval cruise missiles and sites linked to submarines and other underwater threats.
It also said the navy was involved in intelligence and operations tied to the killing of five senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force liaison officials with Hezbollah in an attack on the Ramada Hotel in Beirut on March 8. The navy said that strike had previously remained classified. In that attack, the navy fired 14 missiles, and one of the officials was described as the key actor in transferring $770 million from Iran to Hezbollah over the past year.
New ties with the Shin Bet in Gaza
In Gaza, the Shin Bet took the lead in planning top-level Hamas assassinations, while most of those operations were carried out by the IAF. The navy said Thursday that it had also been involved in a number of those assassinations, working directly with the Shin Bet in new ways.
The navy cited two examples: on November 19, it worked with the IDF Intelligence Corps to assassinate Hamas naval commander Abdullah Abu Samael after Hamas significantly violated the ceasefire. On March 16, the Shin Bet, the navy, and the IDF Intelligence Corps jointly assassinated Yunas Mahmoud Hasin Elian, a top Hamas naval commander.
What the disclosures signal next
The picture emerging from the navy’s account is not just of one raid, but of a wider shift in Israeli special operations doctrine. The service says shayetet 13 is now being used in more distant, more complex, and more tightly integrated missions alongside Mossad, the Shin Bet, and military intelligence. With more details still classified or withheld, the next developments around shayetet 13 will likely be measured in additional disclosures, not immediate public confirmation.
