Saturday, October 6, 1973 AD, corresponding to the tenth of Ramadan 1393 AH, Egypt and Syria launched a war against Israel, to restore the Egyptian land of Sinai and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, before the shooting stopped on the 24th of the same month.
According to the Arabic name, it is the “War of the Tenth of Ramadan” or “The Sixth of October,” and according to the Israeli name, it is the “Yom Kippur War” or “Yom Kippur,” and it is the fourth war between the Arabs and Israel after the wars of 1948, 1956, and 1967.
Prelude to war
During the era of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1956-1970), Egypt was resoundingly defeated in the June 7, 1967 war, when Sinai, Gaza, and the Golan fell to Israel, followed by the West Bank and Jerusalem.
After months of historical setback, the epic of liberating Sinai began, and preparations for the war of liberation began, and in June 1968 the war of attrition began, which moved the Egyptian strategy from the stage of steadfastness to the stage of deterrence.
On September 28, 1970, President Abdel Nasser died, and Muhammad Anwar Sadat assumed the position after him, who had no choice but to prepare for the liberation of the occupied land, which continued for more than two years.
In April 1973, that is, 6 months before the war, Iraq sent to Egypt about 20 British "Hawker Hunter" aircraft with its pilots, according to a prior agreement between the governments of the two countries as a form of air cooperation, to become clear later on the reason the real reason behind this agreement.
The Soviets advised President Sadat to choose the sixth of October 1973 to cross the Suez Canal and begin the attack on the Israeli army, and the great Russian advisor, General Vasilyovich, recommended Yom Kippur as the best time for the attack to achieve the element of surprise.
The Soviet intelligence usually launched satellites at a rate of 2 or 3 times each month, but starting from the third of October 1973, 7 satellites were launched to cover the Middle East, and they lasted 17 days, and the first satellite was placed in orbit 3 days before the attack.
Highlights
The war began on Saturday, October 6, 1973, with a surprise attack by the Egyptian army and the Syrian army on the Israeli forces stationed in Sinai and the Golan Heights.
The Egyptian forces penetrated 20 kilometers east of the Suez Canal, and the Syrian forces managed to enter the depth of the Golan Heights.
The two most powerful countries in the world at the time (America and the Soviet Union) intervened in the war indirectly, as the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia provided Syria and Egypt with weapons, while the United States provided Israel with military equipment.
On October 12, 1973, that is, 6 days after the start of the war, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir appealed to America, which established an unprecedented air bridge in its history to transport advanced weapons to Israel, while the fighting was continuing to avoid what US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger described as a catastrophe. .
The United States, with its satellites, helped guide the Israelis to the destination of the main Egyptian strikes, and the map of the deployment of SAM defenses (surface-to-air missiles), as well as to the weak point in the distance between the second and third armies, which the Israelis eventually penetrated and crossed the canal into Egyptian territory.
Israel also launched a counterattack on the Syrian front in the Golan Heights, and was helped by the calmness of the Egyptian front as a result of the tactical stand.
Syria asked Egypt to develop the attack on the Egyptian front in order to reduce Israeli pressure on the Syrian front. Here, a dispute occurred between the Egyptian leaders over the form of the development plan.
With American help, Israel obtained complete information about the Egyptian forces east and west of the canal, the size of the development forces, and the direction of the main axis.
On the morning of October 14, 1973, Sadat decided to develop the attack eastward to push the enemy west of the mountain passes to restrict his movement, and to relieve pressure on the Syrian front, despite the objection of the Chief of Staff, Saad al-Din al-Shazly.
The Egyptian development forces launched and fell into an Israeli ambush, which led to heavy losses among them, and the largest tank battles took place, in which about 2,000 Israeli tanks and modern equipment arrived to Israel from America via the air bridge.
Israel destroyed 250 Egyptian tanks, so the development forces withdrew and returned to the heads of bridges, and the development failed, and the Egyptian forces were forced to stop fighting on their front because of the exposure of the backs of their forces to the enemy, and the near depletion of ammunition, and as a result of America making an air bridge of equipment for Israel in the depth of Sinai, as well as I did in the Golan in Syria.
On the night of October 14, 1973, a small Israeli force was able to cross the Suez Canal to its western bank, and the Egyptian Third Army began to be surrounded, which caused a gap between the ranks of the Egyptian forces known as the "Diversoir Gap".
On October 17, 1973, Israel pushed its forces across the Bitter Lakes, took control of the crossing area after suffering heavy losses, and erected a bridge over the Suez Canal in the Defreswar area for tanks to cross and flow through the breach.
3 Israeli divisions crossed to the western side and took control of a wide area that extended to the outskirts of the city of Suez.
On October 21, 1973, the Security Council issued a cease-fire resolution and Israel and Egypt accepted it, but Israel pushed new forces to the west of the canal on October 22 and 23 to reinforce its forces in the Deversoir area.
Israel continued to fight, and advanced until it reached the rear of the Third Army to cut off the Egyptian-Suez desert road and seize the city of Suez. On October 23, the Security Council issued another resolution to confirm the cease-fire, and Egypt and Israel also agreed to it.
Sadat called on the Soviet Union and America to send troops to ensure a cease-fire. The Soviet Union accepted and America strongly objected, but the fighting stopped on October 24.
Disengagement
On May 31, 1974, the war officially ended with the signing of the Disengagement Agreement, in which Israel agreed to return the city of Quneitra to Syria and the eastern bank of the Suez Canal to Egypt, in return for the removal of Egyptian and Syrian forces from the armistice line and the establishment of a United Nations special force to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger acted as a mediator between the two sides and reached an armistice agreement, and the two sides later signed a comprehensive peace agreement at Camp David in 1979.
Results of the October War
Restoration of full Egyptian sovereignty over the Suez Canal and the return of navigation in the canal, starting in June 1975.
Egypt recovered all its lands in the Sinai Peninsula.
Syria's recovery of part of the Golan Heights, including the city of Quneitra.
The war paved the way for the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, which was signed in September 1978 following Anwar Sadat's initiative in November 1977 to visit Jerusalem.
Arab losses in the October War
8,528 civilians and military personnel were killed, and 19,549 were wounded.
Egypt: 500 tanks, 120 warplanes and 15 helicopters were destroyed.
Syria: 500 tanks, 117 warplanes and 13 helicopters destroyed.
Iraq: 137 tanks and 26 warplanes destroyed.
Jordan: 18 tanks destroyed.
Israeli losses in the October War
2,656 dead, and 7,250 wounded.
More than 340 prisoners.
400 tanks were destroyed, and the Arab armies seized other tanks.
Destroying more than 300 warplanes and 25 helicopters.