Third Battle of Mount Hermon The Third Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on the night of October 21 – 22 , 1973 , between the Israeli Army and the Syrian Army over Mount Hermon , during the last days of the Yom Kippur War . Syrian troops had captured the IDF outpost on the mountain on October 6 , and held it for two weeks . In the third battle , codenamed Operation Dessert ( , " Mivtza Kinu ' ah " ) , Israeli troops captured the Israeli outpost and the Syrian one . Background . After losing control of Mount Hermon on October 6 and failing to recapture it on October 8 , the IDF , and the Golani Brigade in particular , grew determined to recapture it . Its loss levied a heavy toll on Israel ' s intelligence gathering during the war . At 10 : 15 PM on October 19 , Israeli Chief of Staff ( Ramatkal ) David Elazar was on his way to the Israeli Northern Command to monitor an attack on the Hermon . At that time , the General Staff learned of the United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ' s notification of an immediate ceasefire to the war . Elazar was asked to return to Tel Aviv , where he met with the Defense Minister , Moshe Dayan , and they agreed that recapturing the Hermon was top priority . Yehuda Peled , who had commanded the failed counterattack on October 8 , decided that it would be best to attack from the Syrian enclave to the east , instead of from the Golan again . The 4 , 000 foot climb from that direction was very steep , but would bring the attacking force straight to the Israeli outpost without fighting on the ridge . The Golani commander , Amir Drori , concurred . Peled ' s 51st battalion was therefore posted in an abandoned Syrian village at the foot of the eastern side of the Hermon . For three nights , the battalion practiced a quick climb with full gear , and Peled concluded that the mission was possible . Elazar ordered him to take the entire crest , including the Syrian Hermon . Golani was to capture the Israeli Hermon , while a reserve paratroopers brigade , under the command of Colonel Haim Nadel , would attack the Syrian positions established before the war . Prelude . Nadel ' s officers suggested taking the crest and then moving down to the Israeli Hermon . Brigadier - General Yekutiel Adam , Deputy Chief of Northern Command , rejected this suggestion , saying Golani should capture the outpost it had lost . The paratroop officers suggested that Golani would attack from the east , but were rejected because the eastern slope was considered too vulnerable to Syrian artillery and too steep to safely evacuate the wounded . On the night of October 20 , Drori arrived at Northern Command and was advised by a paratroop officer to change his orders . He refused . For the two weeks before the Israeli attack , the Syrians were hiding by day , expecting an Israeli assault . Two Syrians were wounded by Israeli shelling during those two weeks . On the morning of October 21 , a reconnaissance team under the command of Yoni Netanyahu climbed an adjacent spur to look at the Israeli Hermon , and reported seeing only two Syrians on the ridge the entire day . Aerial photography also failed to show any indication of Syrian forces in the outpost . That evening , 400 Golani troops gathered in a grove at the foot of the western slope . Drori told them that the Hermon was highly important , being " the eyes and ears of the country " . Battle . Israeli Hermon . The battalion moved to Majdal Shams , from where it began to ascend the mountain . The reconnaissance company moved far to the left . In the middle , a motorized force led by tanks and a bulldozer prepared to move up the road to follow the two flanks . These were accompanied by artillery , firing 200 yards ahead , but it was ordered to stop when it began to hit too close to the troops . After nine hours of climbing they were two thirds of the way up , when they were hit by heavy fire . Five of the six tank commanders in the motorized force were hit by Syrian commandos lying at the side of the road . The reconnaissance company was also hit and its commander was killed . The exchange of fire took place at range of a few yards . In addition to snipers , the Syrians also used Israeli machine guns taken from the outpost after the first battle . Several times , the Israelis mistook Syrian fire for friendly one . Peled tried to outflank the Syrians . One of his company commanders took the wrong path and turned northwest instead of northeast . He reported no enemy in sight . Peled moved forward to get a better view . Drori ordered him back , but Peled ignored him . Drori was then hit , and wanted to pass command to Peled . Peled ' s artillery officer and radioman were both killed . He took the radio before being hit as well . At dawn artillery was called in , and the Syrian fire began to fade . Several Syrian snipers surrendered . At 11 : 00 AM , a Golani officer announced that the Hermon was in Israeli hands . Syrian Hermon . Nadel ' s force was airlifted to the crest by helicopters . Two battalions , totalling 606 soldiers , arrived in twenty - seven sorties . The helicopters moved through the wadis around the Syrian anti - aircraft positions , and artillery preceded the helicopters . Syrian artillery from the nearby village Irneh shelled the landing zone and seriously wounded one Israeli . Twenty - one soldiers were also landed at the summit of Mount Hermon . By 17 : 25 , all the Israeli paratroopers had arrived . Seven men were placed on the peak to observe . The Syrians called for seven MiGs , but these were shot down by Israeli aircraft . Two Syrian helicopters carrying reinforcements were also shot down . A Syrian ground advance from Irneh was also halted by IAF planes . The Israeli paratroopers proceeded to attack the Twists Position ( , " Mutzav HaPitulim " ) , defended by 25 – 30 Syrians . One Israeli platoon commander and seven Syrians were killed , and the rest retreated . The Twists Position overlooked both the Syrian Hermon Position and the road to Irneh , so roadblocks and ambushes were set up around it . Israeli forces continued south , attacking the Cliff Position ( , " Mutzav HaMatsuk " ) , with 30 – 40 Syrian defenders . Thanks in part to artillery support , the Israelis captured the position without suffering any casualties , killing 12 Syrians . The ambush around the Twists Position intercepted six Syrian trucks with reinforcements , capturing or destroying five . At 03 : 00 , they were overlooking the main Syrian observation post . Nadel called in artillery fire . Half an hour later , the Israeli troops attacked and discovered that the Syrian defenders had fled . At 06 : 00 – 10 : 00 , one of the battalions moved toward the Israeli Hermon to assist the Golani troops . En route , it encountered Syrians who had escaped from the Israeli Hermon . The Israeli battalion killed some of them and took 17 others prisoner . One Israeli was killed in the shootout . The paratroopers were halfway down when they were ordered by the Northern Command to move back up . Aftermath . Golani ' s casualties were fifty - five dead and 79 wounded . The paratroopers ' casualties were one dead and four wounded . After the battle , one Golani private repeated the phrase " the eyes of the country " in an interview for the Israeli television . It has since become a common idiom for the Hermon in Israel . The Israeli conduct later came under criticism . Historian Uri Milstein argued that the planning and execution of the attack was flawed and scandalous . Thirty years after the battle , Drori rejected claims that the paratroopers ' assistance was unwanted because of Golani ' s prestige considerations , and said that by the time the paratroopers could have arrived , they were no longer needed . After the war , the Syrian Hermon was handed back to Syria .