Golan Heights
During the evening of June 5th, Israeli air strikes destroyed two thirds of the Syrian Air Force, and forced the remaining third to retreat to distant bases, without playing any further role in the ensuing warfare. A minor Syrian force tried to capture the water plant at Tel Dan (the subject of a fierce escalation two years earlier). Several Syrian tanks are reported to have sunk in the Jordan river. In any case, the Syrian command abandoned hopes of a ground attack, and began a massive shelling of Israeli towns in the Hula Valley instead.
June 7th and 8th passed in this way. At that time, a debate had been going on in the Israeli leadership whether the Golan Heights should be assailed as well. Military wisdom, however, suggested that the attack would be extremely costly, as it would be an uphill battle against a strongly fortified enemy. Moshe Dayan believed such an operation would yield losses of 30,000, and opposed it bitterly. Levi Eshkol, on the other hand, was more open to the possibility of an operation in the Golan Heights, as was the head of the Northern Command, David Elazar, whose unbridled enthusiasm for and confidence in the operation may have eroded Dayan's reluctance. Eventually, as the situation on the Southern and Central fronts cleared up, Moshe Dayan became more enthusiastic about the idea, and he authorized the operation.
The Syrian army consisted of about 50,000 men grouped in 9 brigades, supported by an adequate amount of artillery and armor. Israeli forces used in combat consisted of two brigades (one armored led by Albert Mandler, the other--the infantry "Golani") in the northern part of the front, and another two (infantry and one of Peled's brigades summoned from Jenin) in the center. The Golan Heights' unique terrain (mountainous slopes crossed by parallel streams every several miles), and the general lack of roads in the area meant that only those Syrian units that were in the path of entering Israeli forces would be able to fight them. Another advantage Israel possessed was the excellent intelligence collected by Mossad operative Eli Cohen (who was later captured and executed) regarding the Syrian battle positions.
The I.A.F., which had been attacking Syrian artillery for four days prior to the attack, was ordered to attack Syrian positions with all its force. While the well-protected artillery was mostly undamaged, the ground forces staying on the Golan plateau (6 of the 9 brigades) became unable to organize a defense. By the evening of June 9th, the four Israeli brigades had broken through to the plateau, where they could be reinforced and replaced.
On the next day, June 10, the central and northern groups joined in a pincer movement, but that fell mainly on empty territory as the Syrian forces fled. Several units joined by Elad Peled rose to the Golan from the south, only to find the positions mostly empty as well. During the day, the Israeli units stopped on an arbitrary line (there's no natural geographic boundary at that area), that later became the cease-fire line known as the "Purple Line".
War at air and sea
During the Six-Day War, the I.A.F. demonstrated the crucial importance of air superiority during the course of a modern conflict. It was able to ruthlessly paralyze the helpless Arab forces and to grant itself air superiority over all fronts; it then complemented the strategic effect of their initial strike by carrying out tactical support operations. Of particular interest was the destruction of the Jordanian 60th armored brigade near Jericho and the attack on the Iraqi armored brigade which was sent to attack Israel through Jordan.
In contrast, the Arab air forces never managed to produce a considerable effect: Attacks of Jordanian fighters and Egyptian TU-16 bombers into the Israeli rear during the first two days of the war were not successful and led to the destruction of the aircraft (Egyptian bombers were shot down while Jordan's fighters were destroyed during the attack on the airfield).
War at sea was also extremely limited. Movements of both Israeli and Egyptian vessels are known to have been used to intimidate the other side, but neither side has ever engaged the other at sea. The only moves that yielded any result were the unleashing of 6 Israeli frogmen in Alexandria harbor (they were captured, having sunk a minesweeper), and the Israeli light boat crews capturing the abandoned Sharm As-Sheikh.
On the second day of the war (June 6), King Hussein and Nasser declared that American and British aircraft took part in the Israeli attacks. This announcement was intercepted by the Israeli’s and turned into a media frenzy. This became known as "The Big Lie" in American and British circles.
On the fourth day of the war (June 8), USS Liberty, an American electronic intelligence vessel, was attacked by Israeli air and sea forces, nearly sinking the ship and causing heavy casualties. While Israel claimed the attack to be a case of mistaken identity, a claim subsequently supported by independent Israeli and U.S. inquiries, certain Western observers disagree. For discussion, see Israeli attack on USS Liberty.
Conclusion of conflict and situation after war
By June 10, Israel has completed its last offensive, the one in the Golan Heights. On the following day, a cease-fire was signed. Israel had seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the Jordan River (including East Jerusalem), and the Golan Heights. Overall, Israel's territory grew by a factor of 4 including hundreds of Arabs who were to now be disposeessed. Israel's strategic depth grew to at least 300 kilometers in the south, 60 kilometers in the east and 20 kilometers of extremely rugged terrain in the north, a security asset that was far from useless, as the Yom Kippur War would show six years later.
The political importance of the Six-Day War was immense; Israel demonstrated that it was not only able to but also to initiate strategic strikes that would change the regional balance. Egypt and Syria learnt the tactical lessons of the Six-Day War, but perhaps not the strategic ones, and were to initiate one more strike, Yom Kippur War, before learning that Israel was no longer the fragile state of the early 1950s that was able to defend itself.
Yet another aspect of the war touches on the population of the captured territories: about 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, about 80,000 to 100,000 of them were forced to flee to Jordan, where they contributed to the growing unrest. The rest stayed. Only the inhabitants of East Jerusalem and Golan Heights were allowed to receive Israeli citizenship, as Israel annexed these territories in the early 1980s. See also Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel's initial intention regarding the lands was one of expansion; Both Jordan and Egypt eventually withdrew their claims to West Bank and Gaza (the Sinai was returned on the basis of Camp David accords of 1977 and the question of the Golan heights is still negotiated with Syria). By the late 1970s, Israel sponsored the building of numerous settlements on the territories designed to improve Israeli foothold in the region; however the political effect of these settlements and its influence on the local Arab population was severe and went against the Geneva convention for human rights.
The Six-Day War also laid the foundation for the future discord in the region--as on November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for peace" formula, which called for Israeli withdrawal from unspecified amount of the territories occupied in 1967 in return for the end of all states of “belligerency”.
War of Attrition
In the 1969-1970 war of attrition, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt. In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. The United States helped end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent U.S. efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve disengagement of forces were not successful.
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