Myth, Not History
The story of “Operation ولاد الابالسة” (The Devil’s Sons) — a legendary Egyptian special forces mission said to have stormed Haifa’s port, freed captured sailors, and left behind a deadly warning — is a myth. While popular in online forums, nationalist circles, and retellings like songs and spoken word poetry, the story does not hold up against the documented evidence.
The Ghosts of Haifa: When Myth becomes History
On the night of January 3, 2002, the world above the Red Sea was silent — but beneath the waves and beyond the headlines, a storm was brewing.
That morning, Israel seized an Egyptian cargo ship, claiming it was smuggling weapons to the Palestinian resistance. The ship — and more importantly, the Egyptian sailors on board — became pawns in an international game suddenly tipped into chaos. Israel declared the cargo a threat. And the region, already brittle with tension, cracked.
The Prime Minister of Israel at the time, Ariel Sharon, had not spoken to Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in months. Their diplomatic relationship had deteriorated into mutual silence. But on that day, Mubarak made the call. The line between Cairo and Tel Aviv buzzed to life.
No greetings. No pleasantries.
“The Egyptian sailors have nothing to do with whatever you claim is on that ship,” Mubarak said coldly. “They are civilians. I demand you let them go. Immediately.”
Sharon’s reply was meant to be measured. Diplomatic. Deflective.
“No, we will need to conclude our investi—”
But Mubarak had already hung up.
That click — that single, sharp click — echoed louder than any explosion. Mubarak turned to his defense minister and issued one order: “Get them home”
Operation: ولاد الابالسة — The Devil’s Sons
That night, Egypt’s most elite and secretive special operations unit, Unit 777, was summoned. The plan was ruthless in its elegance and flawless in its timing. Within hours, every man had been handpicked. Equipment was prepped. No questions asked.
The mission was split into three squads:
- Squad One: Air-dropped onto the ship, their mission was to secure the deck and eliminate the guards.
- Squad Two: Tasked with locating and freeing the Egyptian sailors in the port’s prison cells and eliminating the guards on the port
- Squad Three: Combat divers, sent to rig Haifa’s port with explosives.
As the midnight hour approached, the Ghosts slipped through the darkness.
Not a single shot echoed. Though their rifles were silent, none were fired. Only blades moved — swift, precise, unseen.. Every IDF soldier on guard — silent kills, vanishing bodies. No alarms. No resistance. The Israeli port never saw them coming.
The sailors, shaken but unharmed, were rescued from the ship’s brig — still unaware that freedom had come through shadow and within just hours. The three squads regrouped, now all aboard the seized ship. Engines were primed. Navigation locked.
Only as the ship began to slip away did Israel realize something was wrong.
Troops down. Ship gone. Egyptians missing.
They scrambled. Mobilization orders were issued. Drones lifted. Helicopters spun to life. But before action could be taken, a call came in — from the ship itself. A voice, low and deliberate. Not threatening. Not pleading. Just… certain.
“The entire port is rigged. Every foundation, every dock, every depot. Chase us… and Haifa will be ash.”
Israel hesitated. Then froze. For weeks, IDF engineers combed through the port. Searching. Scanning. The devices were real — interlinked, deeply buried, impossibly complex. They couldn’t disarm them without detonating them. Egypt had left its fingerprint in steel and fire.
And then, just as quietly as they had struck, Egypt sent the blueprints — a full schematic to deactivate the explosives. Haifa was spared. But the message was unmistakable:
“We freed you by choice, not by weakness. And should we ever choose again, we will return.”
A Covered War
According to the myth, the humiliation was so complete — so precise — that Israel chose not to acknowledge it at all. No headlines. No retaliation. To do so would be to admit that Egypt had infiltrated its most secure naval port, taken back its citizens, and vanished into the sea without a trace. No country, not even Israel, could afford to wear that shame openly.
Thus, the story of “ولاد الابالسة”, the Devil’s Sons, was buried.
Officially? It never happened.
But in the coffee shops of Cairo, in military barracks and late-night whispers, it lives on. A story too wild to be real — and yet too Egyptian not to be.
But here’s what really happened beneath the headlines and beyond the myth
The Real Story: The Karine A Affair
The Karine A, a large cargo vessel, was intercepted in international waters by Israeli naval commandos. The operation, dubbed Operation Noah’s Ark, was conducted with precision by Shayetet 13 — Israel’s elite naval special forces.
The ship was claimed by the Israeli government to have been carrying 50 tons of weapons, including rockets, explosives, and anti-tank missiles. These arms were allegedly intended for the Palestinian Authority, but were sourced from Iran, transferred via Hezbollah, and then routed through Sudan and the Red Sea to the Gaza Strip via the ship.
Multiple interviews with the Egyptian sailors who were detained reveal they spent months in captivity, with diplomatic negotiations ultimately securing their release. Additionally, news coverage of the Karine A incident continued for weeks and months after the interception, tracking the political fallout and the status of the crew — contradicting the myth’s central claim that the ship was freed just hours after being seized.
Most telling of all, there is no record — public or military — of any Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) personnel being killed during or after the Karine A raid, despite the myth’s vivid portrayal of a phantom-like Egyptian strike team eliminating guards in the night.
While the story of “The Devil’s Sons” is undeniably compelling and taps into a deep vein of national pride and historical precedent, it remains fiction, contradicted by the testimonies and the timeline surrounding the real Karine A affair. What’s fascinating though is why so many believed it could be true.
Egypt has a long and storied history of daring special operations, from the 1973 War to covert actions in Gaza and Sinai. These real feats paved the way for myths to be accepted as fact. One of the most persistent myths was born from the actual seizure of a ship called the Karine A in 2002 — an incident with global consequences and real tension between Egypt, Israel, and the wider Middle East.
Why This Story Matters
I share this story not to blur the line between truth and fiction, but to remind us why that line is so hard to see when it comes to Egypt.
Because we are a people of legends — so rich in real victories, ancient glory, and untold sacrifice that even our myths feel like memories. We have built pyramids that defied time, fought battles that reshaped history, and stood proud in moments when the world watched in awe.
Yes, The Devil’s Sons is a myth. But don’t be discouraged that this one didn’t happen — because there are countless others that did. Stories etched not in whispers, but in stone, blood, and legacy. And they go back thousands of years, far beyond the reach of modern headlines.
So be proud of who you are. Be proud of where you come from. Protect your land with your voice, your mind, and if it comes to it — your life. Because you are the child of a civilization so great, even its fiction sounds like fact.
We are not just part of history — we are what made history.