Arafat's elite force

Force 17 was formed to protect Arafat

Force 17 positions in the Palestinian territories have been the target of Israel's latest air raids - but not for the first time.

Force 17 is the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat's, elite guard unit, created in the 1970s to protect him and other leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

Recent Israeli attacks on Force 17

28 March: Israel bombards Force 17 HQ in retaliation for the killing of three Israeli children

13 Feb: Force 17 major Massud Ayyad killed in Israeli attack

Nov 2000: Force 17 positions targeted in Gaza after a Jewish settler school bus is bombed

After the lynching of two Israeli soldiers, Israel fires rockets at Force 17 positions

Analysts say Mr Arafat rules through multiple and competing security services, one of which is his presidential guard.

Israel, which blames Force 17 for playing a prime role in anti-Israeli attacks during the six-month Palestinian uprising.

And, they have responded to many attacks by targeting Force 17 positions, even assassinating one of the unit's majors, Massud Ayyad, in February.

Army officials argue that the Palestinian security apparatus comprises a force of 3,500 equipped with light weapons and armoured vehicles.

Force 17 first provoked Israeli ire in 1979.

The intelligence agency Mossad assassinated its first leader, Ali Hassan Salameh for his role as a military chief of the Black September movement, which had kidnapped a group of Israelis at the Munich Games seven years earlier.

Eleven Israelis died during the incident.

Salameh was blown up by a car bomb in Beirut, where the force used to be based alongside the PLO.

The new leader of Force 17 moved the group back to the Palestinian territories to support the first intifada in 1987.

The Israelis have long accused the unit of working with the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, which spearheaded the resistance against Israel's occupation of Lebanon.

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is believed to have handed President George W Bush documented information in an attempt to demonstrate the link between the elite troops and Hezbollah.

Local human rights groups have in the past accused Force 17 of using excessive force against political prisoners in Palestinian territories.

In 1985 Force 17 admitted having killed three Israelis in Cyprus - its last confirmed attack outside Israel and the Palestinian territories.