Air Campaign 010 - Six-Day War 1967. Operation Focus and the 12 Hours (2019) COMP.pdf

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C A M P A I G N

A I R

SIX-DAY WAR 1967

Operation

Focus

and the 12 hours

that changed the Middle East

S H LO M O A LO N I

I L LU S T R AT E D B Y A D A M TO O B Y

A I R C A M PA I G N

SIX-DAY WAR 1967

Operation

Focus

and the 12 hours that changed the Middle East

SHLOMO ALONI

ILLU STR ATED BY ADAM TOOBY

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY

ATTACKER’S CAPABILITIES

DEFENDERS’ CAPABILITIES

CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

THE CAMPAIGN

ANALYSIS AND AFTERMATH

FURTHER READING

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Israel’s gateway to the

Red Sea, Eilat, was the

symbol of the Israeli buffer

between Egypt and Arab

nations in the Levant. In

1955 – when this photo

was taken – Egypt

announced that any ship

intending to sail via the

Straits of Tiran must give

72 hours’ notice and gain

Egyptian permission,

effectively blocking the

Straits. Israel decided

against military action

then, but in 1956 seized

the chance to secure

freedom of navigation,

which lasted until May

1967. (ILGP/PO)

Four years after the Arab world’s first attempt to annihilate Israel, Egypt – the leader

of Arab nations and Israel’s prime opponent at the time – became a republic on July 23,

1952. Gamal Abdel Nasser, its new socialist, pan-Arabist leader, pursued a policy of seeking

unification with ideologically like-minded Arab states, chiefly Syria. The United States,

fearing Soviet influence in the Middle East, launched an initiative – codenamed Alpha – to

support Egypt politically, economically and militarily, conditional upon a peace agreement

with Israel.

In June 1955, Nasser attempted to break the linkage between US aid and peace with Israel.

Nasser spoke of his discouragement over the previous three years that military equipment

could be obtained from the US. He had concluded that he should accept Russia’s offer

of military equipment.

On September 21, 1955, Nasser notified the US that the arms deal between Czechoslovakia

and Egypt for Soviet weapons was to go ahead. Two days later, the US indicated that the

deal included 200 jet aircraft, of which 100 – comprising 37 medium jet bombers and the

remainder MiG-15s – were to be delivered by December 1955, with first shipment already

on its way to Egypt.

Nasser stated that the Czechoslovak arms deal was a turning point in Egyptian history.

Israel reasoned that, given Nasser’s intentions of Arab unity and Egypt’s new capability of

offensive bombers, Egypt was seeking a second-round war to eliminate the disgrace of defeat

in the 1948 war, as well as to remove the geographical buffer that Israel represented between

Egypt in Africa and the majority of Arab nations in Asia.

Then, on July 26, 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. France and Britain combined

forces to repossess the Suez Canal, and Israel joined the coalition. The resulting 1956 war

ended in mixed results for all four participants. France and UK defeated Egypt militarily,

but did not repossess the Suez Canal and were forced to retreat by political pressure. Egypt

was beaten, but scored a diplomatic victory and Nasser’s regime survived. Israel destroyed

Egypt’s war machine, yet was forced to retreat from Sinai – but only after securing American

Israeli troops examine

Egyptian coastal artillery –

most likely disabled by the

Egyptian crew through

double-loading it and then

firing it prior to the

Egyptian retreat from Ras

Nasrani in November

1956 – in early 1957,

with the Straits of Tiran in

the background. (ILGP/PO)

assurances over freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran. A few days prior to their

withdrawal, Israel’s Foreign Minister in the UN General Assembly and the Prime Minister

in the Israeli Parliament both stated solemnly that any interference with Israel’s freedom of

navigation through the Straits of Tiran would be regarded as an attack, entitling Israel to

exercise its right to self-defense.

Egypt rehabilitated its armed forces and reinstated the policy of Arab unity more intensely

than ever before. Egypt and Syria became the United Arab Republic on February 22,

1958, with tiny Israel forming a buffer between the south and north of the gargantuan

Israel’s Prime Minister and

Defense Minister Levy

Eshkol, center, examining,

on April 8, 1967, Syrian

artillery bombardment

damage to housing at

Gadot, with IDF Chief of

Staff Isaac Rabin, left,

and Command North

Commander David Elazar,

right. (ILGP/PO)

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