israel vs. syria

Israel vs. Syria

June 1967

Quick Review

• What have you studied?

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May 1967, Hafez al-Assad, then Syria's Defense Minister

"Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian Army, with its finger on the trigger, is united... I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation."

May 22, 1967

• "We want a full scale, popular war of liberation… to destroy the Zionist enemy" - Syrian president Dr. Nureddin al-Attasi speech to troops

• Syrian Army

Manual

Opposing Sides

•  Israel •  Egypt• Syria

 JordanArab Expeditionary Forces:

•  Iraq Saudi Arabia Morocco Algeria

• Libya• Tunisia • Sudan

PLO

GOLAN HEIGHTS

• Mountainous slopes crossed by parallel streams every several kilometers running east to west

• General lack of roads in the area channeled both forces along east-west axes of movement and restricted the ability of units to support those on either flank

• Syrians could move north-south on the plateau itself, and the Israelis could move north-south at the base of the Golan escarpment.

Golan Heights

480-square-mile volcanic (basalt) rock plateau above the Hula Valley to the west and Jordan Valley to the south

Rises gently from 600 feet in the south to 3,000 feet in the north, with abrupt escarpments dominating the valleys to the west and south

Transected in some areas by impassable canyons, limiting the number of routes leading up from the valleys to the heights

1967 MILITARY STRENGTH

• ISRAEL

50,000 troops214,000 reserves300 combat aircraft800 tanks

Total troops: 264,000

100,000 deployed

• ARAB

Egypt: 240,000Syria, Jordan, and Iraq: 307,000957 combat aircraft2,504 tanks

Total troops: 547,000240,000 deployed

Syrian Forces (Soviet client)

• Total strength: 75,000 • Amassed along the

Israeli/Syrian border• Nine brigades,

supported by artillery and armor

Pre-War Events: April 7, 1967

a minor border incident escalated into a full-scale aerial battle over the Golan Heights

loss of six Syrian MiG-21s to Israeli Air Force (IAF)-two over Damascus

Syrian Air Force-5 June

• Defeated rapidly, losing two-thirds of its forces

• Retreated to bases in remote parts of Syria.

• This helped the IDF in defeating the Syrian Army on the ground and led to the loss of the Golan Heights.

Syrian Attacks: 6 June

0540: Shelled 10 Israeli settlements

0640: 2 Armored Companies and 1 Infantry Battalion Attack Kibbutz Dan

(Repulsed, Lost 7 tanks)

1930: Repeat Attack repulsed

2030: Repeat Attack repulsed

(Syrian weakness allows Israel to send 2 Brigades against Jordanians!)

Syrian Defenses

Extensive defensive fortifications in depths up to 15 kilometers

Comparable to the Maginot Line.

Syrian

Position:

Mount

Hermon

Syrian Golan Defenses

• 11th, 8th, 19th: Brigades

Each had 1 Tank Bn in trenches

• 2 Brigades in support

• Dragons teeth, mines, barbed wire, trenches, bunkers, pillboxes

Soviet T-54

Syrian forces-Weakness

• Bismillah: “If Allah Wills it!”

• Makes leadership irrelevant

Syrian Officers

• Officers: Minority Alawite Muslim Sect

• 50 Meters to the rear: control men and shoot deserters

• Written orders, not initiative

Syrian Officers

• Ineffective defense

• Officers were poor leaders and treated their soldiers poorly

• Often retreated to escape danger, leaving their men confused and ineffective.

Syrian Enlisted Men

• Men: Shi’ ‘ite sect: Inferior

• Crews chained to guns

• Most were illiterate

• NCOs not prepared for the task

Moshe Dayan-NO!

• “…believed such an operation (seizing Golan Heights) would yield losses of 30,000”

Intelligence Coup

• Mossad operative Eli Cohen

• Plotted Syrian battle positions

• Shade Trees for Artillery Crews

• (captured and executed in Syria in 1965)

Tel Faher Defense

•  Fortified Company sized position

• Divided in two - north and south

•  Seven fenced positions

• Network of bunkers and underground tunnels

Tel Faher Defense

• Horseshoe-shaped position• Three communication belts

surrounded  with mine fields and barbed wire fences.

• Company from the Infantry Battalion 187

• Captain Ahmad Ibrahim Khalili

Soviet Rifle Company Defense

Soviet Anti-Tank Weapons

• 57 mm Anti-tank gun

• Two-82 mm Recoilless Rifles

Fire Support

• 3-14.5 mm • Anti-Aircraft MGs

• 82 mm Mortars

Soviet Truck BTR-152- In Reserve

Golani Brigade

• Motto:

"The No. 1 Brigade“• Colors: Brown beret,

yellow and green flag• March: "Golani Sheli"

("My Golani")• Mascot: Olive Tree

Golani Brigade (Col. Yona Efrat)

Unit # Name Meaning Designation

12 Barak Bn Lightning Infantry

13 Gideon Bn Gideon Infantry

51 HaBok'im First Breachers Infantry

HaRishon

621 Egoz Recon Nut Tree SF Anti- guerrilla

Objective: Tel A’Ziziyat

51st Infantry Battalion,

HaBok'im HaRishon,

(First Breachers)

makes a wide flanking attack

(4 Dug IN PKW IV Tanks)

PKW IV-Germany WWII (France)

Operation Hammer:Battle for Tel Fakhr: Friday, 9 June

• 0700: Orders for Israeli attack on Syria

• 1 INF Bde (Golani), 2 AR Bns

• 1 AR Bde back from Nablus attack

• 0745: Order to GO!

• 1145: ATTACK up to the high ground

Attack is Delayed

• 1000: Advance to Line of Departure

• 1400: Last vehicle of Armored brigade clears the road

• 90 minutes to get ready to attack

• All 7 half tracks in the North are destroyed

• MAJ Alex Krinsky and 7 men

• 3 men remained when the Recon troop (“Nut Tree”) arrived

Typical

attack

plan

Tel Fakhr: Barak Battalion-1/3

• 1300: Minefields force Frontal Assault

• Split into 14 man squads• Advance along parallel paths

• Cdr, LTC “Musa” Klein (Killed by sniper)

• 3 Company commanders killed

• 1530: Ready for Tel Fakhr (2 Cos/200 men)

Tel Fakhr: Barak Battalion-2/3

• 1630: Reach trenches on the crest: 150 meters in one hour!

• The Reserve battalion (13th Bn, “Gideons”) attacks

• “Sergeant’s Battle”• (8 men left in one company)• All wire cutters hit• Human bridges over barbed wire

Tel Fakhr: Barak Battalion-2/3

• Sayerot Golani (Bde Recon Force-”Flying Leopards”) attacks Northern observation post

• Syrians collapse after dark

• 1820: Secure

Tel Faker: Barak Battalion-3/3

• 2LTs leading companies

• 32 dead, 82 wounded

• Syrian Radio announcement?

Battle for Tel Faker

• “Sand Table” Review

1-Operation Hammer

2

3

4

5

6

7-Medal of Valor (1st): 1970

PVT Moshe Drimmer

SGT Shaul Vardi:Continued to engage the enemy while injured

PVT David Shirazi & LT Dan Horowitz:

Charged enemy position

8-Nine Sherman Tanks Knocked Out!

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

• Captain Reoven Aliaz, commander of Sayeret Golani during the war.

18-Tel Fakhr casualties

• Israel: 31 KIA, 82 WIA

• Syria: 62 KIAS, 20 POW

• 10 June Attacks

A Bad Idea!

• In an attempt to pressure the UN into enforcing a ceasefire Damascus Radio broadcast the fall of the city of Quneitra three hours before it actually capitulated

• Premature report of the surrender of their headquarters destroyed the morale of the Syrian troops left in the Golan area:

• Result: RETREAT!

• 10 June

Attacks

M48 Patton

Syrian Village

Casualties for the War

• ISRAELI

• 776–983 (777?)killed• (Equivalent of 2X US

losses in Vietnam?)• 4,517 (2586?) wounded• 15 captured• 46 of 200 aircraft

destroyed • 395 Tanks

• ARAB

• Egypt – 10,000–15,000 killed or missing. 4,338 POW

• Jordan – 700–6,000 killed or missing. 533 POW

• Syria – 2,500 killed, 591 POW

Iraq – 10 killed, 30 woundedTotal –13,200-23,500 killed, 45,000 WIA,

• 5,500+ POW • 452+ aircraft destroyed• 617+ tanks destroyed

Casualties in Golan

• IsraelIsrael• 127 KIA• 625 WIA• 4 Pilots POW• 160 Tanks• (122-Sinai, 112-Jordan)

• Syria• 2,500 KIA• 591 POW• 118 Tanks• 61 Planes

80-130,000 Syrians Fled

7,000 Syrians remained

Medal of Distinguished Service

• Captin Avraham Solovitz

• Assumed command, led the attack, first in the trenches, killed in action

Purple Line, as the 1967 cease-fire line was known

defensible line was reached–

string of extinct volcano cones that commands strategic views of Damascus on one side and of all northern Israel on the other.

Nixon near Golan-6/24/67

Proxy War?

• 1980s US Military assessment:

• Israeli armies were regarded as too highly motivated to represent NATO troops

• Arab armies lacked the discipline required to make sense of Soviet tactical doctrine

Soviet Advisors?

• No Arab army has ever utilized Soviet Tactical Military Doctrine

• The reason being that Soviet "Military Advisors" never taught doctrine or tactics

• They were weapons advisors

After 1973-

• It had always been assumed that the Arabs used Soviet tactics and the Israelis used Western tactics.

• War college paper: Arab armies used Western Style warfare and the Israelis using a modified version of standard Wehrmacht tactics.

• Israelis were discovered to be using a combination of Wehrmacht and Soviet doctrine.

• Result: US Army's AirLand Battle 2000 doctrine.

Omage to Mrs. Root

I cannot escape:

Che’!

Jewish ancestry as a slander

• "accused" of having Jewish ancestry by political adversaries to discredit the person, throw doubts on their loyalty, and attribute undefined ulterior motives for:

• Gamal Abdel Nasser• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk• The Royal family of Jordan• The Al-Saud Royal family of Saudi Arabia• Yasser Arafat• Saddam Hussein• Fidel Castro

Che?

• a Jewish mother?

• The rumor says she her parents are Russian Jews and she left to Argentina for reasons unknown.

Cousin Ariel Sharon?

• His cousin is Ariel Sharon ex-prime minister of Israel.

• Even Al Ahram, a leading newspaper in Egypt found it worthwhile to report on this story. They show a picture of the iconic Guevara with a beard and beret, but with the face of Ariel Sharon in the picture.  

“First Cousins”?

Che’ Sharon?

THE END

• THE END