The first attack on the Nebi Yusha fortress

The attacking force that included a Palmach platoon and fighters from Regiment 11 (field corps from Haifa, subordinate to Golani), commanded by field forces Brigade Commander Israel Lior and company commander Yossi Fogel, started out on the journey in two armored buses, without a plan for action. It appears that their confidence in a successful operation caused the commanders to behave as though they were about to attack an abandoned outpost and not a fortified and protected objective. The convoy did not encounter any opposition throughout the journey until it reached the entrance to the fortress and the fighters were given the order to go out of the buses. They were immediately met with accurate fire from the Arab unit of eleven men, manning the fortress. The attacking force was revealed when one of the buses fell into a ditch and was forced to switch on the lights. There was a full moon that night and the Arabs had no difficulty in firing accurately on the attacking force, compelling it to retreat. Four men were killed during the attack and others were injured.
The Arabs had blown up part of the road leading up to the fortress and laid a number of "concertinas" (reels of barbed-wire) between the fortress walls and the outer fence – actions that were unknown to the attack planners because no advance observations had been carried out.
In the wake of that attack, the Arab force in the fortress was significantly reinforced with 70-80 men.