Editing Spetsnaz (section)

==== The Beirut hostage crisis ====
In October 1985, specialist operators from the KGB's [[Alpha Group|Group "A" (''Alpha'')]] were dispatched to [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]]. The Kremlin had been informed of the kidnapping of four Soviet diplomats by the militant group, the Islamic Liberation Organization (a radical offshoot of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]). It was believed that this was retaliation for the Soviet support of [[Syrian occupation of Lebanon|Syrian involvement]] in the [[Lebanese Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.start.umd.edu/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4072 |title=Terrorist Organization Profile: Islamic Liberation Organization|publisher=University of Maryland |access-date=15 October 2014}}</ref> However, by the time the Alpha group arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. In a [[tit-for-tat]] response, Alpha group operators first identified the terrorists using local sources, then moved into the Lebanese villages where the terrorists were from and took their relatives as hostages. Some of the hostages were dismembered, and their body parts sent to the hostage takers, with the threat that their relatives were next. The remaining hostages were released immediately.<ref name="sofrep.com">{{cite web | url=https://sofrep.com/news/russian-special-forces-what-are-spetsnaz/ | title=Russian Special Forces &#124; What Are Spetsnaz? | date=6 May 2021 }}</ref>

Russian sources indicate that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the spiritual leader of [[Hezbollah]], Grand Ayatollah [[Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah]], who appealed to King [[Hussein of Jordan]] and the leaders of Libya and Iran to use their influence on the kidnappers.<ref>{{cite web| language = ru |url=http://www.chekist.ru/article/2257 |title=Вячеслав Лашкул. Бейрутская операция советской разведки/Vyacheslav Lashkul |trans-title=The Beirut Soviet intelligence operations |publisher=Chekist.ru |date=31 March 2006 |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref>

Either way, the show of brutal force had its effect, and for the next 20 years no Soviet or Russian officials were taken captive, until June 2006.<ref name="sofrep.com"/>