TERRORISM: The 'Institute' Strikes Again

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One of the least known but most feared intelligence operations in the Middle East is a special branch of Mossad—the Israeli version of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, known familiarly as the "Institute"—which was organized in 1972 to conduct anti-terrorist campaigns against the Palestinian guerrillas. Last week there were indications that Mossad was on the offensive again. In Paris, possibly as a result of a Mossad tip, French counterespionage agents moved in on a sleepy-eyed, Spanish-speaking foreign visitor known only as "Carlos," who had in his possession forged Peruvian, Venezuelan and U.S. passports. He also had an arsenal of explosives and weapons similar to those used in a series of terrorist attacks by Palestinian, Japanese, Turkish and German groups in Europe. As he was being questioned, Carlos shot to death two French agents, as well as a Lebanese informer accompanying them, and disappeared.

TIME has been told that agents of Mossad also took advantage of the recent fighting in Lebanon to assassinate some of Israel's most implacable foes within the Palestinian movement. The Israelis claim to have killed eight and wounded 15 others in and around Beirut. Here is how the campaign of revenge was carried out:

The objective of the latest mission, like that of a similar Mossad raid in Beirut two years ago, was to seek out and destroy Palestinians known to be connected with recurring fedayeen attacks on Israelis. Two teams of six people each were chosen for the mission: a killer team and a spotter team to pick out their targets. The killers went first, leaving Israel around 8:30 on the night of June 11. It was an ideal time: the moon had set early and the sky was black. The six—five men and a young woman—assembled at an airfield in northern Israel and stowed their guns and gear aboard a Bell 205 helicopter belonging to the Israeli air force. They kept their faces covered so that even members of the helicopter crew were not able to get a good look at them.

Accompanied by a second helicopter flying as gunship, the chopper lifted off its pad and headed for Beirut. The chosen route was along the border between Lebanon and Syria, so that radar scanners in either country might assume that the two helicopters came from the other side and were flying a routine mission. Meanwhile, other choppers with a back-up team aboard flew over the Mediterranean toward Lebanon; they would land near Beirut if the first team was discovered and shot down. It was not.

An hour after departure, the first helicopter set down gently in an area not far from Beirut while its gunship hovered overhead protectively. The killers were met by waiting Israeli agents, who drove them to a safe house in the Beirut suburbs. From there, a one-word code message was flashed to an Israeli monitoring station, informing Mossad that the team was in place and Operation Caesarea was go.