July 3, 2024
Conclusions of the Supplementary Investigation Committee led by MG (Res.) Amir Abulafia, to Examine the Circumstances of the First Tyre Disaster
A joint announcement of the IDF, the ISA and the Israel Police:
The supplementary investigation committee led by MG (Res.) Amir Abulafia, which operated in the past year in cooperation with the ISA and the Israel Police, recently completed its investigation and presented its conclusions to the IDF Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, the Head of the ISA, Mr. Ronen Bar, to the Commissioner of the Israel Police, Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, and the Minister of Defense, Mr. Yoav Gallant. Its conclusions were fully accepted and approved.
Immediately afterwards, the conclusions were presented to the bereaved families, and to the victims of the disaster and their families.
The committee's conclusions show that it is highly probable that the collapse of the administrative building in Tyre, Lebanon on November 11th, 1982, occurred as a result of a car bomb that was driven by a suicide bomber. As a result of the collapse, 76 members of the Israel security forces (Israel Border Police, IDF and ISA) were killed, as well as 15 Lebanese detainees who were in the building.
Following the incident, an investigation committee was appointed, led by the late MG (Res.) Meir Zorea z”l. Within the conclusions it was determined that the disaster occurred as a result of a gas explosion that leaked in the building and due to the building’s weak structure.
Over the years that have passed since the disaster, claims and hypotheses have been brought forward by various parties, according to which the disaster was caused by hostile terrorist activity, in contrast to the conclusion of the Zorea Committee.
40 years after the disaster, out of respect for the fallen and victims of the disaster as well as striving to find the truth, the Head of the ISA, in coordination with the Chief of the General Staff and the Commissioner of the Israel Police, established an inter-agency examination team.
The team was led by the Head of a Directorate in the ISA (equivalent to the rank of MG in the IDF), with the participation of professional and intelligence officials from the ISA, the IDF, and the Israel Police, in order to once again examine the existing information regarding the incident and form a professional recommendation, whether it is necessary to reevaluate the information that was accumulated by the Zorea Committee since the collapse of the building. The examination team gathered information, conducted investigations, interviews and models, and found that there is new information that justifies conducting an additional examination in relation to the conclusions established by the Zorea Committee. The Head of the ISA and the Commissioner of the Israel Police joined this recommendation and it was approved by the Chief of the General Staff.
On June 25th, 2023, the supplementary investigation committee was established and then appointed by the Chief of the General Staff and in cooperation with the Head of the ISA and the Commissioner of the Israel Police. The committee was led by MG (Res.) Amir Abulafia.
The appointed investigative committee conducted a comprehensive and thorough examination of all the findings and details concerning the incident.
As part of the committee's work, three professional teams were established in the field of engineering and explosives, in the field of locating missing people, identification and burial, and in the field of intelligence, relying both on the data collected in the past and on new information using professional, up-to-date and advanced tools that were not available to the Zorea Committee, as well as the other factors that examined the circumstances of the building's collapse after it occurred. The committee's conclusions are supported, among others, by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine.
From the combination of the testimonies, the additional information gathered by intelligence parties, and the open-sourced and secret information regarding the assumption of responsibility for the incident, as well as the findings at the scene, it emerged that with a high probability, on the morning of November 11th, 1982, a terrorist driver committed a suicide bombing in a Peugeot 504 car bomb on the road in front of the government building, towards the south. When the car arrived in front of the building's entrance, the car turned towards the building and entered it through the main entrance, until arriving near the elevator shaft on the ground floor - where it exploded.
The bomb that exploded weighed at least 50 kg, and seemingly included additional combustible materials, including gas canisters. As a result of the explosion, the engine of the Peugeot was torn apart and crushed and parts of the car were thrown, and the body of the terrorist was crushed. As a result of the explosion, at least four pillars on the ground floor were damaged, in a way that led to a 'chain of collapse' of the entire structure.
The collapse of the building caused the death and injury of the members of the Israeli security forces who were in the building, as well as the death of Lebanese detainees held on the upper floors. The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber sent by Shi’ite handlers.
The committee recommended that from now on, this tragic event will be treated as an incident caused by hostile terrorist activity.
It should be emphasized that the committee's conclusions are not intended to criticize previous investigations that were carried out. The committee noted that the current committee had at its disposal a great deal of new and significant information that was accumulated after the work of the Zorea Committee, as well as new professional tools that were not available to the Zorea Committee. In addition, the Zorea Committee was required to act within a short period of time. During the work of the Zorea Committee, there was no familiarity with the threat of the 'suicide terrorist' and the Shi’ite factors in Lebanon were not seen as a significant threat.
The Tyre disaster is an unfortunate and painful event on any scale, and the completion of the investigation of the incident is of great importance, both at the national level and as part of the commitment to the families of the fallen and to the victims of the disaster and their families.
The IDF, the ISA and the Israel Police express their condolences to the bereaved families and victims of the disaster and will continue to accompany them.
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