Operation Markolet was a Haganah

Haganah

Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...

 venture on the night of the 16th to the 17th of June 1946 in the British Mandate of Palestine. Its aim was to destroy eleven bridges linking Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 to the neighboring countries Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, in order to immobilize its transportation.

Operation Merkolet was the largest and most comprehensive Haganah operation within the United Resistance framework, and it was also the final one. But it achieved its goal; transportation was suspended.

Only one operation failed: the Palmach

Palmach

The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...

 suffered 14 killed and 5 injuries at the Nahal Akhziv bridges. The other operations succeeded without injuries.

To disguise and protect the real operations and to confuse the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, around 50 diversion operations and ambushes were carried out throughout the country on the same night. The Palmach members could return easier due to the common confusion.

Preparations

The Haganah started the preparations in January-February 1946. First, the SHAI

SHAI

Shai , established in 1940, was the intelligence and counter-espionage arm of the Haganah and the forebear of the Military Intelligence Directorate in Mandate Palestine....

 (Hagana Intelligence Service), Palmach patrols and forces scheduled to carry out the operation began spotting, photographing and measuring the targets but also exploring possible access and escape paths. They were disguised as lovers enjoying nature or as geography excursions.

Originally, the operation should have taken place in May, but due to political reasons it was postponed.

The political leadership forbade an attack on three targets.

Spared bridges

Bridge	Type	To country	Coordinates	Reason
Ras a-Nakura tunnel, Rosh HaNikra Rosh HaNikra grottoes Rosh HaNikra is a geologic formation in Israel, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Western Galilee. It is a white chalk cliff face which opens up into spectacular grottos....	railway	Lebanon	33°05′41"N 35°06′16"E	Restoring the tunnel would be too difficult and it was within Lebanon
Yarmuk Yarmouk River The Yarmouk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It drains much of the Hauran Plateau. It is one of three main tributaries which enter the Jordan between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. To the south, are the Jabbok/Zarqa and the Arnon/Wadi Mujib) rivers... , Gesher	railway	Jordan	32°38′42"N 35°34′22"E	Led to the power station in Naharayim Naharayim Naharayim is a site on the border between Israel and Jordan where an hydroelectric power-plant was established in 1930. The Yarmuk River flows into the Jordan River at Naharayim. The plant, established by Pinchas Rutenberg, produced much of the energy consumed in the British Mandate of Palestine...
Jordan, Gesher	railway	Jordan	32°38′06"N 35°33′57"E	Led to the power station in Naharayim

Objectives

The planners knew that the operation could not cause heavy damage, and that it would take some weeks for the connections to be restored.
The real targets were:

• demonstration of the ability of the Haganah to operate throughout the country, even in deserted areas or at the center of the Arab
  Arab
  Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
  
   population
• demonstration of the ability to sabotage
  Sabotage
  Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
  
   the British army's operation
• demonstration of the ability of the Haganah to discourage neighboring armies from future involvement
• harming the British army's prestige as the most powerful force in the Middle East
  Middle East
  The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
  
   and damaging the legitimacy of the British Mandate
• strengthening and encouraging the Jewish population in Palestine, and showing the Haganah as being as active as the Irgun
  Irgun
  The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
  
   and Lehi
  Lehi (group)
  Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
  
   groups

Outcome

The objectives were fully accomplished. The Haganah could hit strategic targets at the same time. As a precaution, the Syrian, Lebanese and Trans-Jordanian armies were put on standby, and the borders were tightened. The British Mandate lost a lot of its prestige and suffered a damage of 250,000 pound sterling. Twelve days after the attack the British authorities retaliated by imposing a curfew on Jewish communities and launching a security operation known as Black Sabbath. Despite the involvement of 20,000 British troops and the arrest of 3,000 Jews no major damage was done to the Haganah.

Targeted bridges

Bridge	type	to country	coordinates	details
Nahal Ayyun, Metula Metula Metula is a town in the Northern District of Israel. Metula is located between the sites of the Biblical cities of Dan, Abel Bet Maacah, and Ijon, bordering Lebanon.-Early history:...	road	Lebanon	33°17′0"N 35°34′52"E	was unguarded,
NW of Metula	road	Lebanon	33°17′14"N 35°33′58"E	executed discreetly,
Nahal Akhziv	railway	Lebanon	33°03′02"N 35°06′11.5"E	forces were spotted, explosives were laid under fire, operation failed, 14 casualties and 5 injuries
Nahal Akhziv	road	Lebanon	33°03′02"N 35°06′15.5"E	called off following the heavy casualties taken during the attack on the nearby railway bridge
Banot Ya'aqov Bnot Ya'akov Bridge Bnot Ya'akov Bridge is a bridge across the Jordan River on Highway 91, straddling the border between Israel proper and the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights...	road	Syria	33°0′37"N 35°37′42"E	executed discreetly,
Yarmuk Yarmouk River The Yarmouk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It drains much of the Hauran Plateau. It is one of three main tributaries which enter the Jordan between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. To the south, are the Jabbok/Zarqa and the Arnon/Wadi Mujib) rivers...	railway	Syria	32°40′47"N 35°38′58"E	was unguarded,
Sheikh Hussein	road	Jordan	32°29′49"N 35°34′32"E	executed discreetly,
Damiya Damia Bridge The Damia Bridge, also known as the Adam Bridge , is a bridge over the Jordan River between the West Bank and Jordan. It is about 50 km north of Jericho and is the location of an Israeli border checkpoint....  (Adam)	road	Jordan	32°06′10"N 35°32′06"E	executed discreetly
Allenby Allenby Bridge The Allenby Bridge , also known as the King Hussein Bridge , is a bridge that crosses the Jordan River, and connects Jericho in the West Bank to the country of Jordan...	road	Jordan	31°52′28"N 35°32′26"E	forces were spotted, explosives were laid under fire
Nahal Habsor, Gaza Gaza Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...	road	Egypt	31°27′20"N 34°24′53"E	forces were spotted, explosives were laid under fire
Nahal Habsor, Gaza	railway	Egypt	31°27′27"N 34°24′44"E	forces were spotted, explosives were laid under fire

After the attacks, the British army began broad investigations in the settlements near the destroyed targets in the hope to find weapon caches. Two weeks later, on June 29, 1946, Operation Agatha

Operation Agatha

Operation Agatha sometimes called Black Shabbat or Black Saturday because it began on the Jewish sabbath, was a police and military operation conducted by the British authorities in the British Mandate of Palestine...

 was launched with the goal to capture many Palmach members. During that surprise action, more than 2,700 Jews were arrested, including the senior leadership of the Haganah. The British discovered important papers proving the role of the Unified Resistance, which were stored at the King David Hotel

King David Hotel

The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri, a wealthy Egyptian Jewish Banker. To this day the hotel remains one of the most prominent and prestigious hotels in Israel, and...

 in Jerusalem. That led to the King David Hotel bombing

King David Hotel bombing

The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...

on July 22, 1946.