Different artistic productions were released after the commando operation that depicts the heroic act of the commandos. One in particular was Ahmed Shaebi’s song ‘shaebia commando’ (The people’s commando). This song praises the commandos for what they had accomplished and it even goes beyond and describes the front and the people as commandos. It symbolized the commando operation and made it common sense that any Eritrean is his own commando when it comes to self-defense and determination. Soon the term commando became a synonym for Eritrean wills that made the impossible possible.

May 21st 1984, a highly trained special commando troops were on a top-secret and risky mission. They were going to pierce into the enemy lines and strike from the inside. The commandos trained in the Revolution’s base, Sahel, which is more than 250 kilometers afar from Asmara. And after tremendous and extensive field research, they came all the way to Asmara unnoticed and were ready to strike their target at 20:00 military time.

Sixteen in number, armed with kalashnkov and light-weapon; the commandos went into the enemy lines and attacked the then Ethiopia Air Force. The operation took place with in 18 minutes of action, leaving more than thirty warplanes burned to ashes.

It was Sunday afternoon, 14 June 2009 then - in memory of this twenty five year old event –teenagers, children, adults, military personnel, public and military officials were present at the resting place of Mebrahtu Ghebrehiwet, code named as Embaye, the only commando who martyred at the action.


The attendants of the commemorative ceremony

One of the commandos, Major Tecklebrhan Yohanes was there to narrate about the operation and the fallen hero. When he was reflecting back to the day and the month and the year of the operation, he must have been so overwhelmed by the sheer bravery of the commandos, that he was nonstopably and repeatedly saying, ‘it is a wonder, it is like the word impossible never existed’.

At the commemorative ceremony, the kids who only know about their history in books were listening attentively to the narrator, for they were smitten by the ‘Rambo’ kind of story. Major Teklebrhan was trying to contain the overwhelming emotions and memories that rushed through his mind and at the same time to narrate about the operation to the youngsters comprehensively. He was desperate to remember it all, to pick the details from here and there, trying to capture the indomitable determination of the commandos.

At its blow-out, the commando operation became the symbol of Eritrean will to freedom; Eritreans would pierce into the heart of the enemy and accomplish what is thought to be impossible, to get what was long stolen from their rightful possession- Their self-determination.

A member of the Eritrean Air Force standing over the wreckage of the operation


The enemy was forever haunted by the sudden and unanticipated attack. And when one comes across the story of martyr Mebrahtu, one can imagine the magnitude of its effect. History tells it that when the soldiers of the enemy captured his deceased body, they were going to torture his body as a means of a revenge, but the then Ethiopian dictator, Mengstu Hailemariam, ordered them to ‘bury him properly as a hero should be buried, because he was a hero’.

And not long ago did the border-war broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998, that the Ethiopian government started to deport Eritreans who reside in Ethiopia at an instant denying them the time and opportunity to manage their affairs. The deportees asked why, and the Ethiopian government announced that ‘you are shaebia’s commando’.

Fourteen years later, the commando operation continued to haunt those who dared a war with Eritrea. More than the actual operation, the symbolic meaning attached to it surpassed and echoed throughout the borders. And Eritreans were called commandos and forced to leave what they call home. And now twenty-five years later, the iconic meaning of commandos is transcending the test of time, running still in the blood of young Eritreans, who are toiling and tossing to melt down the impossible in development endeavors withstanding the age of global challenges.

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