SIX DAYS WAR (Israeli victory during the wars of 1948 and 1956)

SIX DAYS WAR

 01.     Israeli victory during the wars of 1948 and 1956, the Arab union led by Egypt, Syria and Jordan was willing to change the situation in the region by beating Israel. Both sides understood that the conflict was far from over and was preparing for the next stage of confrontation. International interference and the inability of the sides to find a settlement made one of the most iconic conflicts of the modern era – the Six-day War inevitable. On May 13, 1967, the Soviet Union falsely informed Egypt about the concentration of 11-13 brigades of the Israeli Defense Forces with an intent to strike Syria. In response, Egypt started concentrating forces along the border with Israel in Sinai and, on May 16, demanded that UN peacekeeping forces leave the peninsula. At the same time, Israel refused the UN's request to deploy the UNEF on their side of the border. In the next few days, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Sudan started mobilization of their forces, Iraq sent expeditionary troops to Jordan, and Saudi Arabia expressed its willingness to participate in military actions. But the turning point, which made the full-scale confrontation inevitable, was the decision of Egypt to block Israeli ships from entering the Straits of Tiran on May 22-23. On June 1, Israel established a National Unity Government, which on June 4, decided to go to War.

02.     The Arab Coalition of Egypt, Jordan and Syria had an advantage over Israel in deployed troops with 240 thousand against 100 thousand, in tanks with 2504 against 800 and aircraft with 957 against 300. Israel planned to strike on June 5 with Operation Focus, which aimed to destroy the Egyptian air force. The Israeli media published false reports claiming Israeli soldiers were on vacation while their pilots were carrying out training sorties as usual, and their intelligence helped make these training as realistic as possible and damaged the tracking antenna of the US Embassy from preventing the Americans from finding out about the Operation before the strike took. As a result, the Israeli pilots were informed about the start of the Operation only 5 hours in advance. At the same time, the Egyptian air defence system was effectively off on June 5. Nearly 200 Israeli aircraft attacked 14 Egyptian airfields and caught them absolutely off guard. 338 Egyptian aircraft were destroyed, and 100 pilots were killed within 3 hours. Jordanian and Syrian Air Force attacked Israel at 11 am June 5. The response of the Israeli air force was an attack on their airfields which led to the destruction of all 28 Jordanian, 53 Syrian and 10 Iraqi planes. Operation Focus was a decisive success: Israel lost only 19 aircraft in this Operation and guaranteed its total air dominance for the rest of the War.

03.     The ground war was taking place at three fronts: the Sinai front, the Jordanian front, and the Syrian front. At the Sinai front, the Egyptian forces consisted of seven divisions: four armoured, two infantry, and one mechanized infantry. Egypt had 100,000 troops and 900–950 tanks in the Sinai, so Israel concentrated three divisions consisting of six armoured, one infantry, one mechanized infantry and three paratrooper brigades for a total of 70,000 men and 700 tanks along this front. Israel planned to catch Egyptians off guard by attacking simultaneously with air strikes and through the Northern and Central routes in the Sinai Peninsula instead of the Central and Southern Routes used during the Sinai War. On June 5, at 7:50 am, the northernmost Israeli division, consisting of three brigades and commanded by Major General Israel Tal, started its advance towards Arish through Gaza, intending to encircle Khan Yunis, while the paratroopers were ordered to take Rafah. Initially, Egyptians offered little resistance since their intelligence concluded that this was a diversion rather than the main attack. However, soon resistance against the 60th armoured brigade ramped up. This did not stop the Israeli forces from reaching the Khan Yunis Railway junction in 4 hours. Afterwards, the IDF advanced on Sheikh Zuweid and defeated fierce Egyptian resistance tanks to air domination. The road on Arish was open, and by 8 am on July 6, elements of the 79th Armored Battalion and the

7th brigade entered the suspiciously quiet city. Suddenly, the Egyptians started firing from the balconies and windows, and a heavy battle was going on for control in the city. The IDF could only take complete control of the city after  Israel reinforcements were sent. The northernmost division is split into two parts. One continued the advance on the Suez channel, while the second group turned south and captured Bir Lahfan and Jabal Libni. Further south on June 6, the 14 thousand men. 150 tanks Israeli solid 38th Armored Division under Major-General Ariel Sharon was confronted by the Egyptian 2nd Infantry  Division under Major-General Sa'adi Nagib, consisting of 16,000 troops and 90 tanks. Israel successfully advanced towards Abu Aguila. The paratroopers landed behind Egyptian positions and sewed enough confusion to weaken the artillery of the Egyptian defence, which opened the way for the IDF to capture Um Kate. It was followed by a fierce close tank battle, which ended in an Israeli victory with 40 Egyptian and 19 Israeli tanks destroyed.

04.     The Egyptian forces in Sinai were still largely intact. Still, their Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer panicked and ordered the retreat of all units from Sinai after hearing about the fall of Abu-Aguila. This order did not elaborate on the sequence and manner of the retreat, which only decreased the defensive capabilities of the Egyptian troops. During the following days, the IDF continued its advance westward and inflicted heavy losses on the Egyptians. Despite episodic heavy resistance by the Egyptians, as in Bin Gafgafa, the napalm bombing by Israeli aviation and uncontrolled retreat weakened the morale of the Egyptian troops. Instead of catching retreating Egyptians, the IDF decided to capture three passes from Sinai to the mainland and face the Egyptian forces there.Although IDF could not stop all Egyptian troops from crossing, these passes became a killing ground for the Egyptian forces, with 10000 killed in one day alone. The capture of Sinai was completed by the fall of Sharm El-Sheikh on June 7 and Ras Sudar on June 8. On June 9, the UN Security Council achieved an armistice between the sides.Israel wanted to avoid confrontation with Jordan and Syria before defeating Egypt, but the offers of neutrality to Jordan were rejected, as the Egyptian president Nasser persuaded King Hussain of Jordan said that Egypt had an advantage against Israel.

On the morning of June 5, both sides started the fire, but Israel attempted a last-gasp attempt to avoid confrontation with Jordan by passing its message of peace through the UN representative Bull. King Hussain countered that it was too late and troops the Jordanian aviation were already on the way. Jordanian and Iraqi aviation started shelling Israeli-controlled West Jerusalem, which caused 16 military and 20 civilian casualties, with 900 buildings damaged. Israel responded with its air attack within Operation Focus, which damaged the military aviation infrastructure of Jordan and secured Israeli air dominance. Jordan controlled East Jerusalem at the time, and the Jordanian Army took the position in the UN residency – the Government House to fire on the Israeli sector. The Jerusalem Brigade's Reserve Battalion 161 of Israel took the Government house despite heavy losses and forced Jordanians to retreat to Bethlehem.

05.     Later on that day Israel encircled Eastern Jerusalem with the Jerusalem Brigade from the south and the mechanized Harel Brigade and 55th Paratroopers Brigade from the north. Fierce battle happened for the Ammunition Hill. Jordanian resistance was so strong that the IDF lost all but two of their attacking officers and achieved the goal only after 4 hours.

However, 55th Paratroopers Brigade afterwards drove eastwards, linked up with Mount Scopus and defeated the other Jordanian positions around the American Colony. Towards the evening of June 5, the mechanized Harel Brigade succeeded in taking Latrun and Ramallah.Also, the 163rd Infantry Battalion secured Abu Tor and cut the Old City from Bethlehem and Hebron. On June 7, the Israeli Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan ordered IDF to enter Old City despite reservations and concerns of the Israeli Government. The fighting was conducted solely by the paratroopers out of fear of the destruction of holy sites. IDF took control of the Old City after little resistance. IDF also captured Judea, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus on June 7. Remnants of the Jordanian Army fell back into Jordan. Israel was victorious on this front as well.

06.     Syria also believed Nasser about Egypt's early success in the conflict and sent its aviation to attack Galilee. Israeli aviation intercepted this attack. The Syrians also attempted a minor ground attack to capture the water plants at Tel Dan, Dan, and She'ar Yashuv. This was repulsed by IDF as well. Israeli air domination, lack of communication by Syrian units, tanks being too wide for bridges were among the causes of the unsuccessful attack of the Syrians.This caused them to abandon any attempts to make ground offensive on Israel and airstrikes were chosen as a method instead. However, on the evening of June 5, Israel struck Syrian airfields within Operation Focus, destroying 2/3 of the Syrian air force and forcing the rest out of the conflict.The Israeli leadership was unsure whether to attack Syria or not. On one hand Syria was using the Golan Heights to shell Israel, on the other hand it would have been an uphill battle against a fortified enemy. But the intelligence about the weakened positions of Syria in general and in Golan Heights in particular, Dayan to order an offensive on Golan without government authorization. The Israeli offensive started with air strikes, severely damaging the defensive infrastructure and morale of the Syrian Army.

The 8th Armored Brigade, led by Colonel Albert Mandler, advanced into the Golan Heights from Givat HaEm. Heavy fighting in unfavourable terrain led to numerous casualties on both sides, but with the help of aviation, the IDF ultimately captured Zaura, Qala and Ein Fit fortresses. In the central sector, the Israeli 181st Battalion captured the strongholds of Dardara and Tel Hillal after fierce fighting By the evening of June 9, Israel reached the plateau, allowing reinforcements to come. Israel had 8 brigades so-called ready for an assault on the second line of defences. Soon the ceasefire was negotiated around the so-called Purple Line. By June 11 all military actions stopped. Up to 983 Israelis, 15000 Egyptians, 700 Jordanians and 2500 Syrians were killed. Israel gained a huge victory. It seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the Jordan River (including East Jerusalem), and the Golan Heights. About one million Arabs were under Israel's control in the newly captured territories. The Israeli victory resulted from more efficient military leadership, and better preparation of troops and intelligence. But the Six-Day War was the last conflict; merely 6 years later, the confrontation escalated into another war.