Special forces are called on when scenario is too complex for regular forces.
The Special Forces comprise of men who are cut above the rest, and are equipped with
best weapons & strategies.
Depending on the country, special forces may perform some of the following functions: airborne
operations, counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism, covert ops, hostage rescue, high-value targets
elimination, intelligence operations and unconventional warfare.
In this video, Defense Updates lists top 5 Special Forces along with some of their covert operations.
So, lets get started.
Extreme training makes MARCOS tough nuts to crack.
An Indian MARCO on an exchange program in the US topped the US Navy SEAL course with ease.
All MARCOS are static line para jump qualified, and some are qualified for free-fall para
jumps – High Altitude Low Opening and High Altitude High Opening (HALO/HAHO).
In fact, MARCOS are handful of the special forces from around the world that are capable
of being para dropped into the sea with the full combat load.
Their prowess can be judged by the fact that there is only 2-member MARCOS team guarding
the 250 square km Wular Lake, preventing it from being used by Pakistan based terrorists
to infiltrate India.
1. In 1988, the MARCOS, as a part of Op Cactus, thwarted an attempted coup in Maldives.
They also captured the boat with 46 mercenaries and their hostages that had escaped after
the failed coup attempt.
2. During the Mumbai attacks in 2008, they stormed the Oberoi Trident and Taj hotels and took
out the terrorist in the complex maze of rooms.
Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group is an elite, stand-alone sub-unit of Russia's
special forces.
It is a dedicated counter-terrorism task force of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
It was originally created by the Soviet KGB in 1974.
Although little is known about the exact nature of its primary directives, it is speculated
that the unit is authorized to act under the direct control and sanction of Russia's top
political leadership.
1.Four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped in September 1985 by a fundamentalist group called the
Islamic Liberation Organization.
Russia dispatched its Alpha group.
With help from KGB, it captured the kidnapper's leaders & relatives.
Alpha group members castrated the leader, cut him down into pieces and sent him to the
hostage takers.
They also threatened to kill more of the kidnapper's relatives if the Soviet diplomats were not freed.
As a result, the 3 hostages were released and dropped off near the Soviet Embassy and
no Russian officials were ever taken captive since then.
2. On 23 October 2002, a crowded theater in Moscow was seized by 40-armed Chechens that involved
850 hostages.
The hostage-takers had grenades, mines and improvised explosive devices strapped to their
bodies, and had deployed more explosives throughout the theater.
On 26th, after a chemical infusion in the building, Alpha Group stormed the theater
and eliminated all the 40 terrorists.
Sayeret Matkal is a Special Forces unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
First and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, conducting deep reconnaissance behind
enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence, Sayeret Matkal is also tasked with counter-terrorism
and hostage rescue beyond Israel's borders.
Solid training and innovative weapons and lots of exposure, make them one of the most deadly.
1. On 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers had been hijacked by two members of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The flight, which had originated in Tel Aviv with the destination of Paris, was diverted
and was landed at main airport of Uganda.
The Ugandan government supported the hijackers, and dictator Idi Amin personally welcomed them.
Operation Entebbe took place at night.
Israeli transport planes carried 100 Sayeret Matkal commandos over 4,000 km to Uganda for
the rescue operation.
All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed, and 11 Soviet-built
MiG-17s and MiG-21s of Uganda's air force were destroyed.
2. In mid-August 2007, Israeli commandos from the Sayeret Matkal reconnaissance unit dressed
in Syrian uniforms covertly raided the suspected Syrian nuclear facility and brought nuclear
material back to Israel.
Once material was tested and confirmed to have come from North Korea and radioactive
traces were found, Israel took out the facility with an airstrike.
The SEALS undergo exhaustive training and are supplied with some of the most high tech equipment.
The SEALS have advantages over others because of the unparalleled US military budget, which
provides them with training in every geographical & climate scenario.
The US has been active in wars around the globe since the Cold War, providing the SEALS
with actual battlefield experience and exposure to many complex scenarios.
1. On 1 to 2 May 2011 SEALS undertook the covert operation codenamed Operation Neptune Spear,
under the CIA's authority, and killed Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda.
The seals were able to infiltrate the military city of Abbottabad undetected and were able
to carry out the main objective, as well as collect valuable data from the compound which
were instrumental in taking out high value Al Qaeda targets later.
2. MV Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship was seized by pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast
of Somalia, in waters notorious for piracy.
After a confrontation with the crew, 4 of the hijackers fled in the ship's lifeboat,
taking Captain Richard Phillips with them as hostage.
Navy Seals operators flew non-stop from Virginia to the Horn of Africa.
The leader of the pirate group was lured onto the USS Braindridge, on pretext of negotiation
and was disarmed.
When the first opportunity appeared 3 SEALS’s snipers fired simultaneously, killing all
3 pirates at once with headshots.
Captain Phillips was then successfully rescued.
SAS is the most highly trained unit in the world.
Colonel David Sterling created them during World War 2 with one purpose, to destroy the
Nazi war machine.
All Special Forces base their training off the SAS training.
A SAS operative is unique, as each person is also trained by MI-5 and MI-6 for in-depth
counter-espionage, apart from tactical training.
1. During the World War 2, in 15 months the SAS destroyed over 250 aircraft, dozens of supply
dumps, wrecked railways and telecommunications and put hundreds of Nazi vehicles out of action
and also killed a massive number of enemy soldiers.
2. On 30 April to 5 May 1980, a group of 6-armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington,
London and took 26 people hostage.
After failed negotiation, on day 6, the government ordered the SAS to conduct an assault and
Operation Nimrod was initiated to rescue the hostages.
Shortly afterwards, SAS commandos dropped down from the roof of the building and forced
entry through the windows.
During the 17-minute raid, they rescued all but one of the remaining hostages, and killed
5 of the 6 hostage-takers and captured one.