The 1978 siege of Larnaca Airport was a big diplomatic disaster between Egypt and Cyprus, detailed in a report this week by the Famagusta Gazette.
The incident started when two terrorists hijacked a Cypriot airliner, taking hostages and demanding transportation to Larnaca Worldwide Airport.
On February 19, 1978, Yusuf Sibai, an Egyptian newspaper editor and an in depth pal of President Anwar Sadat, was assassinated by two gunmen at a conference in Nicosia.
Yousuif Sibai
The assassins captured 16 Arab delegates as hostages, together with two PLO representatives and an Egyptian nationwide.
They demanded transportation to Larnaca Airport and have been supplied with a Cyprus Airways Douglas DC-8 plane.
After negotiations with Cypriot authorities, the hijackers flew the plane out of Cyprus with 11 hostages and 4 crew members however have been denied touchdown in a number of nations, forcing a return to Cyprus.
Among the many hostages was a PLO aide, main Yasser Arafat to supply help.
Cypriot President Spyros Kyprianou accepted, and a Power 17 squad was positioned contained in the terminal.
Throughout negotiations, Egyptian particular forces launched an unauthorized raid on Larnaca Airport, leading to a gun battle with the Cypriot Nationwide Guard.
The trade led to the deaths of no less than ten Egyptian commandos.
The unauthorized assault brought about a extreme diplomatic fallout, with President Sadat declaring that Egypt not acknowledged Spyros Kyprianou as President of Cyprus.
The hostages have been ultimately launched, and the hijackers surrendered, however the harm to Egypt-Cyprus relations was profound.
