Six days War, 53 years of occupation: When Israel defeated Egypt, Syria & Jordan combined in 6 days.

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Six days War | Since the formation of Israel, only Jewish state in the world, there have been series of conflicts & wars. So, there is long history of formation of Israel, where many prominent actors have directly or indirectly played their role by lobbying or by doing atrocities on Jewish in Europe. However, we read about that story in some other post that I will make soon.

Today, we will read about the 6-day war which changed the geopolitical context of middle east. Though it was a brief encounter, but it had a long-lasting impression in the minds of world. So, this war was fought in 1967 between Israel & coalition of Arab nations (Egypt, Syria & Jordan). There were plenty of reasons for hatred among Israel & its Arab nations after 1948 first Israel- Arab conflict, which resulted victory for Israel & hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees.

By the mid 1960’s, Syrian government backed the Palestinian militants to infiltrate Israel border & staged attacks. In retaliation to this, Israel army increased its patrolling & raids. Syria also tried to divert water of River Jordan away from the national water grid of Israel. These series of minor conflicts played a big role to create a spark for the 6-day bloodshed.

In the 1960’s Egypt had procured fighter aircraft's from Soviet Union & had modernized its Air force. Israel had also procured heavy artillery & tanks from France & Britain. Israel had invested a lot in his defense forces after First Arab- Israel war of 1948 to protect its exposed territory. Israel had advanced military equipment’s, well trained officers & soldiers. Even Israel was close to acquire its own Nuclear weapons. Compare to Israel, its neighbors had boasted more & done less in terms of advancement of military warfare & technologies.

Here is a comparison of Military strength of Israel & Combined Arab military of Egypt, Jordan & Syria in 1967 war.

	Israel	Allied Arab forces
Troops	264,000	340,000
Tanks	800	1800
Combat Aircrafts	300	660

On 7^th April,1967, things got worsened between Israel & Syria & full-scale air strike & battle started. Israel army fought bravely & routed the Syrian army. Egypt President Gamal Abdel Nasser was in constant pressure from the Arab world that why Egypt is not helping Syria, hence to show the support for Syria, Egyptian President ordered Egyptian forces to advance into the Sinai Peninsula. Gamal Abdel Nasser also banned Israeli shipping from the Straits of Tiran, the sea passage connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Making it looked like Nations of Arabs challenging a Jewish state for its existence.

Israel had a provision of compulsory military service for all its citizens for 3 years. So, on the call of the erstwhile Israeli Prime Minister, in a couple of days all the men under the age of 45 years in Israel were in the military uniform. Patriotism was to such high level, that each Israeli soldier was willing to sacrifice his life for their country.

On 5^th June, Operation Focus was initiated by Israel military & preemptive air strikes on Egypt were planned. Some 200 aircraft's took off from Israel base over the Mediterranean Sea for bombarding on Egypt. Egyptians were not ready for this surprise attack & found themselves in middle of the bombings. Around 18 different airfields got bombarded & eliminated majority of the Egyptian Air force. After this surprise attack, Israel Air force expanded its attacking range to Syrian & Jordan airfields. By the end of 5^th June, Fighter pilots of Israeli Air force had captured the skies of middle east. Due to its modern & capable Air force, latest technology in air warfare & well-trained fighter pilots, Israel was able to control the skies. However, in ground battle, Egyptian gave a tough fight but all in vain due to heavy artillery of Israel & Tanks which blasted enemy like anything.

Jordan army did fire shelling in Jerusalem after getting wrong intelligence of Egypt dominating the war, in retaliation to shelling by Jordan army, Israeli infantry did heavy firing & destruction in East Jerusalem & West Bank which was part of Jordan territory at that time.

On 7^th June Israel captured the old city of Jerusalem fully, it was after 2000 years that city of Jerusalem was under Jewish. On 9^th June, Israel captured the fortified region of Syrian called Golan heights.

On 10^th June, UN brokered ceasefire took effect and the Six-Day War ended abruptly. It was later estimated that some 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis had died in just 132 hours of fighting

World got shocked seeing the severity of Arab defeat, & how a small nation won the war against its combined enemies. Israel occupied Gaza strip & West bank, & also accepted 1 million Palestine Arabs. Many of whom fled lately from the Israel rule & became refugees in the neighboring Arab countries, which led to further conflicts & turmoil.

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982 as part of a peace treaty and then withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. However, it has continued it rule on the Syrian part of Golan heights & East Jerusalem which it had occupied in 1967 war.